How to Cite a Poem in MLA Style Properly?

Have you ever thought that you could use your favourite verses in your research study as well? A lot of students, despite being aware of the fact, avoid using poems as a citation in their dissertations due to a lack of familiarity with the MLA style required to quote a complete poem or a few verses of it in the dissertation or a research paper.

We have made citing a poem in MLA format easy for the research students by outlining a complete guide below with relevant examples. Make sure to read each section carefully to learn how to cite a poem in MLA style using the proper techniques.

Stay in the loop and say goodbye to the time of writing a boring literature review of your study and lit the content with exciting verses from your favourite poets.

Why Do You Need to Cite Poems?

There can be two obvious reasons that can lead you to add in-text citations of poems in MLA format. One is you are a liberal arts, or more specifically, literary studies student who is working on research ideas that require him/her to compare poems of different poets to find commonality among them.

You can say poets of Elizabethan age and similar topics. The second reason can be the perfect situation in the literature review that matches the couplets you have read or heard a few years ago. There can surely be other reasons, too, but these are the most common ones that lead students to cite poems in their studies.

If you have any other from the above ones, then there is no need to be worried because this guide is going to be completely helpful to you as well.

MLA Style Guidelines to Follow for Quoting Poems

When adding a citation in your study, be it of any style, students are required to format it properly or add in the works cited list or in-text citation according to the guidelines to make the references verifiable for the readers or research committee who want to track them back and read deeply.

That’s why we have brought the right format for you from the Handbook of MLA guidelines. Make sure to follow the points discussed below and learn how to cite a poem in a works cited list or in-text citation using MLA style.

• Use a forward slash to separate lines of the poem in your quotation brackets.
• Add the last name of the poet in between parentheses, or you can add it after the quotation mark ends as well.
• Add a line or page number, whichever is available from both, to cite it properly.

Things You Need to Cite Poems Properly

Before moving on to learn how to type a poem in MLA format for citation you need to learn about the necessary elements associated with the poem or verses you are going to use as a reference.

In order to put the citations in the works cited list or in between the text of the research paper in the right manner while strictly complying with the MLA 9 guidelines. Here is a list of things you need to add complete citations to your work.

• Poet’s Complete Name
• Title of the Poem
• Line, Page Number, or Page Range
• Original Text Publication Year
• Source Publication Year
• Name of the Publication Book, Website, Magazine, such as: (In which the poem is being published)

• Title of the Book: It was Published in
• Title of the Website: It’s Available Online
• Title of the Anthology: It was Published in

• Name of the Publishing Company or Website
• URL (If available for online sources only)
• Editor’s Complete Name (Only Required for Anthologies)

How to Cite More than One Poem Line?

You don’t need to follow any specific formatting guidelines according to the MLA Handbook if you are quoting a single line or a part of the verse from a poem. You just need to put that in quotation marks as you do for phrases and other things.

But if you are going to cite multiple poem lines in your research study, then you are required to follow specific guidelines to avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism can ruin your efforts of months or years, so don’t compromise on making proper citations to avoid it.

If you are stuck with high plagiarism reports of your final year’s thesis, then consider taking help from ResearchProspect’s experts to get your study free from any plagiarism within the review time to make your mark on the submission deadline.

How to Cite 2-3 Poem Lines Using MLA Style?

If you just want to add 2-3 lines in your study as a citation, then put a forward slash in front of the verse breaks to mark the line break and make sure to put a space before and after every slash.

Try to use the same punctuation, capitalisation, and style as used in the original text to keep the authenticity of the text intact.

Poetry Citation Example with Line Breaks

Frost writes that, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, /

And sorry I could not travel both / And be one traveller, long I stood.”

Poetry Citation Example with Stanza Break

Make sure to use a double slash between the lines if there is a stanza break.

Frost writes that “To where it bent in the undergrowth; // Then took the other, as just as fair, /
And having perhaps the better claim,”

How to Cite 4+ Poem Lines Using MLA Style?

Quoting more than 3 lines of poetry is a little different from the 2-3 lines format as it requires you to use an introductory sentence ending with a colon hinting at the message discussed in the lines quoted.

After adding an introductory sentence, researchers are required to start writing quotations on a new line, not on the same one, ½ inch indented from the left margin of the page with no quotation marks. Make sure to add all line breaks as used by the poet and try to keep punctuation, formatting, and style close to the original.

If there is any unusual spacing in the original text, then reproduce it as it is in the citation.

Example

Frost brings the poem to the climax with the revelation of different choices he had decided to make by picking the less travelled road:

I shall be telling this with a sigh.

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

MLA In-Text Citation Format for Poems

When citing poems in MLA format, make sure to add the last name of the poet, like (Milton) after your quotation so that the readers can easily locate the source in the works cited list mentioned by the researcher at the end of the study.

In case you are using more than one poem by the same poet in your text as in-text citations, then you must mention the title of the poem from which you are quoting verses to keep things clear for the readers.

In-Text Citation of Poems with Line Numbers and Page Numbers

A lot of poems are published with line numbers in the margin and even page numbers at the bottom of the page. If any of both is available, then the researchers are required to use the line number in the in-text citations or page number if the line numbers are not mentioned to help readers locate the reference.

According to the MLA Handbook of guidelines, students can use “line” or “lines” followed by a period in the first citation, and only numbers in the subsequent citations from the same poem.

Example of Poems In-Text Citations

Poem with Line Numbers

“April is the cruellest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing / Memory and desire, stirring” (Eliot, lines 1-3).

If there are no line numbers mentioned by the poet or the editor, then don’t count them manually; instead, use the page number to mention the exact position of the citation.

Poem with Page Numbers

“OF Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit / Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast / Brought Death into the World, and all our woe, / With loss of Eden, till one greater Man / Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat, / Sing Heav’nly Muse, that on the secret top / Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire / That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed, / In the Beginning how the Heav’ns and Earth / Rose out of Chaos: or if Sion Hill / Delight thee more, and Siloa’s brook that flow’d” (Milton 1)

Poem without Line or Page Numbers

If you want to cite verses from a poem which has no line numbers or page numbers mentioned by the poet, then just add the last name of the poet at the end of the quotation. Don’t try to count lines or pages manually.

“Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art— / Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night / And watching, with eternal lids apart, / Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite, / The moving waters at their priestlike task / Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores, / Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask / Of snow upon the mountains and the moors— / No—yet still stedfast, still unchangeable, / Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,” (Keats)

How to Add Repeated Citations from the Same Poem?

If you want to use the different couplets or even single verses of the same poem repeatedly in your literature review or data analysis, then there is no need to repeatedly mention the name of the poet. Just write the name of the poet once in the citation, and then just write the line or page number of the verse you are citing.

If there is no line or page number available, then entirely omit this section as long the verses are self-explanatory and match with previous ones, easily making the readers feel it is part of the same poem as mentioned earlier in the text.

Example

Sylvia puts the tone at an intriguing end from the start of the poem by referring to her murder attempts: “I have done it again. / One year in every ten / I manage it——” (Plath, lines 1-3). The “The grave cave ate will be” (14) in continuation of the above-mentioned verses.

You can follow this practice for one paragraph if you want to use the references from the same poem again in the next paragraphs. Then, you must write a full citation once, as mentioned above, and follow the course again.

How do you Cite a Poem in a Works Cited List Using MLA Style?

According to the Handbook of MLA guidelines, researchers are required to write the poet’s name and then the title of the poem in quotation marks. Mentioning the source of the poem as it was published in books, websites, magazines, and other types as well is also necessary.

MLA citation format for works cited page is almost the same as of a book, or website citation. Let’s look at the examples of each source to better understand the citation process.

Citation of a Poem Published in a Book

If you have selected a poem published in the collection of a poet’s works, then you need to write the name of the book from which you have taken the references in italics. After that, write the publisher’s name, year of publication, page number or page range on which the exact poem or verses of the poem appear in the collection.

MLA Works Cited Format

Poet Surname, First name, “Title of the Poem.” Book Title, Publisher Name, Publication Year, Page Number(s).

Example

Whitman, Walt. LEAVES OF GRASS. 1892.p.84.

MLA In-Text Citation

(Whitman)

Citation of a Poem Published in an Anthology

If you are taking references from a poem which is published in an anthology, then you need to follow the above guidelines. Just add the name(s) of the book’s editor(s) in the works cited list.

MLA Works Cited Format

Poet Surname, First Name. “Title of the Poem.”Anthology Title, edited by Editor(s) First Name Surname, Publisher Name, Publication Year, Page Number(s).

Example

Henry, Strauss. “Death to Resurrection.” The Penguin Book of Contemporary Irish Poetry, edited by Allen Porter and Linds Keats, Penguin Books, 1990, pp. 123–131.

MLA In-Text Citation

(Henry 130)

Citation of a Poem Published on a Website

You need to mention the date on which you have accessed the poem from a website, along with the name and URL of the website.

If there is a publication date, mentioned by the website, then add it to the citation list. You can also add the original year of publication while mentioning the citation on the works cited list page.

MLA Works Cited Format

Poet Surname, First Name.”Title of the Poem.”Original Year of Publication. Website Name, Day Month Year of Accessing, URL.

Example

Eliot, T.S. “The Waste Land.” 1922. Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47311/the-waste-land. Accessed 20 December 2024.

MLA In-Text Citation

(Eliot)

Frequently Asked Questions