How to Cite a Poem

Do you recall a time when you sat down to write only on how to format a poem in an essay? You’re not alone. Whether you are working on your assignment related to school or your college course, sometimes doing a correct poem citation can be a bit confusing. But don’t worry! We’ve got you covered. 

We’ll start this blog with specific examples of poem citations. Through this, you get to know everything, like short quotes, extended quotations, and citations of online poems that remain enigmatic. Not only this we will also include some useful tips and examples to help you cite properly. And, if you ever feel that a little extra assistance is required, we will be the first to guide you by offering the best online assignment help services. Thus, have your cup of coffee (or tea), sit comfortably, and let’s jump right into it!  

Why Poem Citation Matters? 

Do you ever think about why referencing poems appropriately in educational works is so significant? Then you are in the right place. Now, let’s look at why poem citation is important and how navigating this area can drastically change your writing. 

Respect for the Author 

First of all, proper citation of a poem is one kind of recognition of the poet. Suppose you spent considerable time and effort in creating a beautiful piece of work or article, and then the other person comes and takes credit for that. That is why poets have those feelings when people do not quote their work properly. If you use their work, you pay recognition to their creativity and work and give proper credit to them. 

Avoiding Plagiarism 

It must be noted that the problem of plagiarism is acute in the academic environment. Cheating can be broadly described as copying somebody else’s work and presenting it as your own work. As simple as it might sound, when you appropriately reference a poem, you are thus showing which ideas and words are yours and which are not. This not only helps one avoid getting into trouble but also provides evidence that one has the well-being of the University in his or her best interest. 

Enhancing Credibility 

It also makes your work more authoritative when you apply proper citations in your essay. They indicate that you’re a serious reader and that you have paid attention to the message being passed by the author. Promising readers can immediately see that there is concrete evidence to back your entire arguments hence making your essay more convincing and reliable. 

Helping Readers 

Good citations can be said to be a guide for your readers, just like giving directions. If you produce a quotation of the poem and give bibliographic information, then you are assisting readers in locating the source. This is highly beneficial for extra information on the poem or to confirm your findings about the poem. 

Joining the Scholarly Conversation 

Essentially, when you are citing a poem, you are engaging in a certain conversation that people in the academy have. Thus, your essay contributes to a discussion about literature and attempts to provide explanations for certain phenomena. Citation is helpful for other users to trace your work and interact with the sources that you used to do your work. 

Keeping Track of Sources 

Original citation can also ultimately be practical for you as a writer. This is helpful in helping one organize his or her sources and most importantly, one will be able to locate a specific poem or analysis that he or she had used in the past.  

Comprehension of poem citations in MLA Format. 

Writing humanities essays involves the use of the Modern Language Association of America (MLA) formatting style. There is a relatively strict format of citation of different types of sources, which allows the readers to find the cited works easily. Since MLA format enables one to locate the source of quotations with high precision, it is perhaps the most suitable in literature. So, have a glance at citing a poem in MLA format.

How to quote a poem in MLA?

If you are quoting only a single line of a poem or even a segment of that line, you need to enclose the line within quotation marks, just like any other quote. There are certain conventions to follow when quoting several lines of a particular work, and these are as follows:

If you do quote two or three lines, you should indicate the line breaks using a forward slash (/). There should be a space before the slash and one after the slash. This means that the obtained text should include the same punctuation as in the original text and the same capitalization and styling. If there is a stanza break between two lines, it is appropriate to use a double slash. 

In any case, if you quote more than three lines of poetry then you should use block quote formatting. Begin the quotation with an initial introductory word or phrase followed by a colon For block quotations, the quotation should begin on a new line and be set about one-half inch from the left margin and do not use quotation marks. 

Swapping between single and double quotation marks can be confusing, so if block-quoting poetry, one should include all the line cuts in the quotation and mirror the formatting of the original poem as closely as possible.

If there is any double spacing, odd margins, or other form of spacing, replicate this in the block quote. It is, therefore, important to learn how to cite a poem in an essay so as to avoid leaving the reader with more questions than answers.

How to cite a poem in an essay?

When quoting a poem, you need to consider the length of the quote:

Short Quotes (three lines or fewer): 

Quantify the source and make sure to support the quote with citations in your essay. 

Example: Robert Frost's choices are nowhere better expressed than in his poem, ‘The Road Not Taken,” where he wrote, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / And sorry I could not travel both. ”

In this example, it can easily be seen that the quote is relatively small and blends in the larger structure of the sentence. The slashes give the reader information about line breaks in the poem, and there are line numbers on the right side of the text.

Long Quotes (more than three lines):

Write the quote separately from the writing as a block of quote. No quotation marks should be used. Start the quote on a new line and get it indented one inch from the left-hand margin of the page. Maintain double-spacing.  

Example: 

William Wordsworth expresses his profound connection with nature in the following lines: 

Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance (lines 11-12)  

By the way, in this example, the quote is quite long which allows it to be situated separately from the rest of the text. The use of block format tells the reader that this is a direct quotation from the poem, and the line numbers guide the reader to the particular passage in the original poem.  

In general, it is recommended to put the title of the poem in quotation marks while citing it. 

How to Cite a Poem Title?

When using the title of the poem in the composition, it is appropriate to make it in quotation marks if the poem is not very long, for book-length poems, it is acceptable to make the title italic. 

Example: The poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” written by T. S. Eliot is a good representation of Modernist poetry. 

In this case, the title of the poem is quite concise, which is why it is preceded by quotation marks. For longer poetic works like the epics or collections that cover books, iterations are used instead. 

Poem Citation Sample  

Here’s a full example of how you might cite a poem in an essay: 

In-text citation: 

The topic of an afterlife is present in Emily Dickinson’s poetry, for instance, in the poem “Because I could not stop for Death – / He kindly stopped for me –” literally. 

Works Cited entry: 

Dickinson, Emily. “Because I could not stop for Death. ” Emily Dickinson. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson edit. Thomas H. Johnson Little, Brown 1960 p. 207. 

The in-text citation of the poem involves putting the title of the poem within quotation marks, and the line numbers are included. In the Works Cited entry, the title of the work is again written in quotation marks, then the title of the book in italics, the editor, publisher, year of publication, and the number of the page.  

Citing a poem from an anthology

In case one is citing a specific poem, which is in an anthology, then there is a variation in the format used. A poet’s name should be followed by the name of the poem and the title of the anthology in italics, the editor’s name, the used publisher, the year of publication, and the number of the page.  

Example: 

In-text citation: 

The African American spirit is cherished and freed in Langston Hughes’ poem ‘Harlem’, where he poses the question, “What happens to a dream deferred? / Does it dry up / like a raisin in the sun?” (1-3).  

Works Cited Entry: 

Hughes, Langston. “Harlem. ” *The Norton Anthology of African American Literature*, ed. by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay, W. W. Norton 1997 p. 1252-1253. 

Additional Tips for Citing Poems

 1. It is mandatory to use the poet’s surname to make in-text citations. 

 Example: Actually, in “The Raven,” Edgar Allan Poe uses a very sad tone at the end of the poem with such line as “Nevermore” (line 48). 

 2. If a poet is cited multiple times, use a short title of the poem being quoted or referred to. 

 Example: Grief: To Die II – Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” – deals with the fascination of death; I heard a Fly buzz – when I died (1) – focuses on the prosaic aspects of dying. 

 3. For poems sectioned into parts, use the section number and the line number. 

 Example: In “The Waste Land” T. S. Eliot uses the phrase “April is the cruellest month,” prepared for the beginning of this part of the poem. 

Common Mistakes to Avoid

When citing poems it often becomes very tricky since one can easily make a mistake. Here are some common errors and how to avoid them:

1. Mis-spelling and/or incorrectly capitalizing the title of the poem. 

Remember: Quotation marks should be used when the poem is short, however when the poem is long, italics should be used.

2. Leaving out the line numbers in the references. 

It is necessary to include line numbers for direct quotes besides for citations of publications.

3. Using the wrong edition of the writing. 

Ensure to make a right citation of the edition of the poem in question especially if the poem is widely featured in different anthologies.

4. Leaving out some information from the main entry in the Works Cited list. 

Your Works Cited entry should list the poet, poem title, book title, if any, editor, publisher, year of publication, and page number.

Final Thoughts

Using poems in composing your essay may, at some point, seem a bit complex, but as soon as you begin the process, then it is easy. Make sure and give proper credit to the work that you are using, pay attention to citation requirements and if uncertain, ask for assistance. Depending on the task, it is required to differentiate between the modern poem citation and the citation for the epic written with quite numerous stanzas. Besides, it also helps in increasing the reliability of your essay and, at the same time, paying respect to the source.

Still, if you are facing any difficulties with your essay or have any questions concerning the proper citation, we are here to help you by offering the best online Assignment Help services. 

Not only to learners in Australia, services such as Do My Assignment Australia exist to assist you in your academic learning endeavours. Such services can be helpful with almost everything starting from the clarification of citation styles and ending with the revisions of your draft. It will be useful, if you are a beginner in using MLA format or if you work with complicated papers.

Therefore, the next time you leave for the poetic literature, you will know how to cite your sources properly, and your essay will be polished to perfection if you connect with us.


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