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How to Cite a Poem in MLA

When writing a research essay, you may want to include poetry. It can be difficult to know how to cite a poem properly since it’s a particular type of resource that can be found online, in a book, or in an anthology.

This page contains everything you need to know to cite a poem in MLA style within your paper and on your reference page, as well as how to properly quote poems of different lengths within your paper. This page also contains information on creating your citations, formatting examples, and what details you need to compile before you can begin.

This guide follows rules established in the MLA Handbook , 9th edition, but is not officially associated with the Modern Language Association.

What You Need

Before you can create your poem citation, you will need to gather information on your source. If available, find:

Poet’s first and last name
Line, page number, or page range
Title of the poem
Year of the original and/or source publication
Title of the book of poetry it’s in
Title of the website it’s on
Title of the anthology it’s in
Name of the publishing company or website publisher
URL (if applicable – online sources only)
Editor(s) first and last name(s) (if applicable – anthologies only)

Citing a Poem Found Online

Since poems can come from multiple sources, there are a few basic formats you can follow to create a citation. The formatting guidelines are different depending on where you found the poem. This section contains the basic format for any poetry you found online, including if it’s a PDF from another source.

Basic format:

Poet’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of the Poem.” Year of poem’s original publication (if available). Title of the Website, Name of Website Publisher, URL. Accessed day month year.

Frost, Robert. “Birches.” 1969. Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44260/birches. Accessed 1 Mar. 2020.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Begin the citation with the poet’s last name, with the first letter capitalized. Follow the last name with a comma and then the poet’s first name, also with a capitalized first letter. Follow the first name with a period.
Put the title of the poem in quotation marks. Place a period after the title of the poem within the quotation marks. The title of the poem should be capitalized in title case (using capital letters only at the beginning of principal words).
Put the numerical year of the poem’s original publication. You may have to do research beyond your online source for the poem to find this information. Follow the numerical year with a period.
Put the title of the website in italics. Be sure to use title case capitalization here again. Follow the website title with a comma.
Put the name of the website publisher in normal text (not italicized), using title case capitalization. Follow with a comma.
Put the URL for your web source, without including https:// at the beginning. Follow the URL with a period.
Write the word “Accessed” (with a capital A, without the quotation marks) followed by the date you looked up the web resource. The format for the date should be: the numerical day, capitalized and spelled-out month, and full numerical year. Be sure to place a period after the year to end your citation. The date should not include commas. So, for example, if the date you accessed your web source was March 12, 2020, you would finish your citation with “Accessed 12 Mar. 2020.” The access date is supplemental and may not always need to be included.

Citing a Poem from a Book

The formatting guidelines for citing a poem from a book are different from the guidelines for citing a poem found online. Note that anthologies have their own citation format. An anthology is a collection of works from different authors. This section contains the basic guidelines for citing a poem from a book. The format for anthologies is provided in the next section.

Basic Format:

Poet’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of the Poem.” Title of the Book, Name of Publishing Company, Year of publication, page number or page range.

Frost, Robert. “The Road Not Taken.” Robert Frost Selected Poems, Fall River Press, 2011, p. 25.

Put the title of the book where you read the poem in italics and title case, followed by a comma.
Put the name of the publishing company in normal text (not italicized) as it is capitalized in the book, followed by a comma. This should be in title case since it is a proper noun. You do not need to include the location of the publisher.
Put the numerical year of the book’s publication (which may be different from the year of the poem’s original publication), followed by a comma.
Provide the page number(s) for the poem you are citing using “p.” or “pp.” and the page number or page range. For example, if the poem is on page 26, put p. 26. If the poem spreads across two or more pages, use “pp.” For example, if the poem is from page 26-29, put pp. 26-29. Follow the page number with a period to end your citation.

Citing a Poem from an Anthology

The guidelines for citing a poem from an anthology are different from the guidelines for citing a poem found online or even in a poetry book. An anthology is a compilation of different works from different authors or artists. The following format is for poems from an anthology.

Basic Format for a poem in an anthology:

Poet’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of the Poem.” Title of Anthology, edited by Editor’s First and Last Name, edition (if applicable), volume (if applicable), Publisher, year of anthology publication, page number or page range.

Drummond, William. “Life.” The Giant Book of Poetry , edited by William Roetzheim, Level4Press Inc, 2006, p. 55.

Put the title of the anthology where you found the poem in italics and title case, followed by a comma.
For two editors, separate the names with the word “and” rather than an ampersand.
For three or more editors, use commas to separate each editor’s name, using “and” only between the last two editors.
If applicable to the anthology, include the book’s edition (e.g., 4th ed.) followed by a comma.
If applicable to the anthology, include the book’s volume number (e.g., vol. 2) followed by a comma.
Put the name of the publishing company in normal text (not italicized) as it is capitalized in the anthology, followed by a comma. You do not need to include the location of the publisher.

In-Text Citations

Unlike the reference page citations, MLA in-text citations for poems are generally the same regardless of the source. The examples below follow Sections 6.22 and 6.36 from the Handbook.

For in an-text citation, all you need to provide is:

The poet’s last name
The line number(s) or page number of the poem you are referencing

(Poet’s Last Name, line(s) #-#)

(Chaucer, lines 6-10)

If you state the author’s name within the sentence, you may just include the line numbers in parentheses instead of repeating the author’s name in the in-text citation. If no line numbers for the poem exist, do not count the lines yourself. Instead, include a page number.

As stated by Chaucer, “Thoght ye to me ne do no daliance” (line 8).

Quoting Up to Three Lines of Poetry

Using a direct quote from a poem is different from making a reference to a poem within your paper. To use a direct quote, you must put it in quotation marks.

To quote anything from a partial line of poetry up to three lines of poetry, you can simply use quotations and a “/” symbol to separate the lines, with a space on either side of the slash. Following the in-text citation guidelines in the section above, place your in-text citation at the end of your quote in parentheses, after the closing quotation marks and before the period.

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – / I took the one less traveled by / And that has made all the difference” (Frost, lines 18-20).

In Robert Frost’s poem, he states, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – / I took the one less traveled by / And that has made all the difference” (lines 18-20).

Quoting Four or More Lines of Poetry

If you’d like to directly quote four or more lines of poetry within your paper, you will need to follow different guidelines than the ones above for three or fewer lines of poetry. When quoting four or more lines of poetry, you will not use quotation marks. Here are more formatting guidelines:

In most cases, you will use a colon (:) at the end of the sentence before you begin your direct quote from the poem.
After the sentence introducing the quote, leave an empty line before beginning the quote.
You must separate a long quote from the rest of your paper by using a half-inch indent from the left throughout the quote.
Instead of using a “ / ” to separate the lines of poetry, try to follow the original format of the poem as closely as possible.
If a line is too long to fit across the page, use a hanging indent, so that the remainder of the line is more indented than the rest of the block quote.
Place your in-text citation in parentheses at the end of the quote, following the last period (or other punctuation) of the quote and without punctuation after the closing parentheses. If the citation will not fit on the line, add it to the following line on the right-hand side of the page.

The poem describes choices in life by using the metaphor of a fork in the road:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth; (Frost, lines 1-5)

MLA Handbook . 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.

Published October 21, 2013. Updated May 18, 2021.

Written by Grace Turney. Grace is a former librarian and has a Master’s degree in Library Science and Information Technology. She is a freelance author and artist.

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In-text citation for a poem can be in the following format:

If you are quoting two or three lines of a poem, the quote should be placed within double quotation marks with a slash as a line separator, with one space on either side. (Stanzas should be separated with a double slash.) The quote should be followed by the author’s last name and the line numbers within parentheses.
If the author’s name is already mentioned in text, only the line number should be inserted within parentheses next to the quotation.
If there is no line number available for the poem, page numbers can be used.

William Wordsworth wrote, “The storm came on before its time: / She wandered up and down” (lines 11-12).

If you are quoting four or more lines of a poem, your quote should be an indented block quote rather than enclosed within quotation marks.
A colon should be placed at the end of the introductory text with a blank line following it.
The full block quote should be indented a half inch throughout and match its original formatting as closely as possible.
The author’s last name and line numbers should be placed at the end of the quotation within parentheses. The end period should be placed before the source.

The author was inspired by the lines of a poem: Not blither is the mountain roe: With many a wanton stroke Her feet disperse the powdery snow, That rises up like smoke. (Wordsworth, lines 13–16)

To cite a poem or short story, include the following details: the author’s name, year published, title of the poem/story, title of the book where you located or read the poem (if applicable), book editor’s first and last name (if applicable), publisher name, and page numbers.

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Quoting and Citing a Poem in MLA: Tips, Steps, and Insights

You are in the right place if you have been struggling online trying to discover how to quote and cite a poem in an MLA essay. You might have heard your professor say that quoting a poem in MLA means introducing the quote and using quotation marks, as you would for any other source. But how do you do that correctly when the quote includes line breaks? Let us look at this comprehensive guide to citing a poem in an MLA paper.

In this post, you will discover all the information you need to know to quote and cite poems correctly as per the MLA stylebook.

When to Quote a Poem

Before you learn how to quote and cite a poem, it is vital to learn when it is necessary to do so. You should only quote a poem in your essay:

1. When Absolutely Necessary

You should only quote a poem in your essay when it is necessary. Quoting lines upon lines of a poem in your essay to boost the word count will not do you much good.

Most professors will be annoyed when they notice you have done this in your essay. And this usually leads only to an average or lower grade. Therefore, quote a poem only when absolutely necessary.

You will know it is necessary to quote a poem when quoting a poem adds value to your paper. If you genuinely believe quoting a poem enhances your paper in one way or another, you should do it.

2. When You Want To Support Your Arguments

It would help if you quoted a poem to support your arguments. There are situations where you cannot write your essay correctly without quoting a poem.

For example, when you analyze a poem in your essay, you must quote it several times. This will help show the reader what you are talking about. In other words, it will help you to support your arguments.

Essential Tips to Quote a Poem in MLA

There are different rules for quoting just a single line of poetry, two or three lines, and for quoting four or more lines.

1. How to Quote a Single Line of Poetry in Your MLA Essay

Quoting a single line of poetry in an MLA essay is easy. You need to put it in double quotes. This is how you would quote a single line of anything else in your MLA essay. So nothing is challenging about it.

Putting a single line of poetry in your MLA essay without enclosing it with double quotation marks will make it difficult for your professor to know you are quoting something.

And do not for a moment think that italicizing a line of poetry can work in lieu of the double quotation marks. It cannot work since it is not how the MLA stylebook requires you to quote a single line of poetry.

Examples of how to quote a single line of poetry:

"While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping" Edgar Allan Poe
"The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed" Percy Shelley
"Life is but an empty dream!" Henry Longfellow

2. How to Quote Two or Three Lines of Poetry

Quoting two or three lines of poetry is a bit more complex than quoting just one. This is because two or three lines of poetry will need something to tell the reader they are moving to the next line.

So how do you do it? Write two or three lines of poetry and enclose them with double quotation marks. Then use the forward slash symbol "/" to show the transition from one line to the next. The symbol should be preceded and followed by space.

If the lines you are quoting are from two different stanzas, use the double forward slash symbol "//" to show the transition from one stanza to the next.

One important thing to remember when quoting a chunk of poetry in your essay is that you should always retain the same styling, capitalization, and punctuation as in the original poem. Do not adjust or rewrite anything to make it sound better or more correct.

Examples of how to quote two to three lines of poetry:

"Life is real! Life is earnest! / And the grave is not its goal;" Henry Longfellow
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: / Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Percy Shelley
"Does it dry up / Like a raising in the sun?" Langston Hughes

3. How to Quote Four or More Lines of Poetry

How you quote four or more lines of poetry differs from how you quote three or fewer lines of poetry. It is different because when you quote four or more lines of poetry, you must quote them as a block.

Here is how exactly to quote four or more lines of poetry. First, introduce the quote or provide the reader with some context on the quote you will unleash to them. Second, put a colon at the end of the sentence to show a quote is coming.

Third, create a line break (a new line) and press the "Tab" this will indent your quote (0.5-inch from the left margin) and distinguish it from the rest of your writing. Lastly, quote the poem you wanted to quote without adding any quotation marks.

Example 1 of how to quote four or more lines of poetry:

Langston Hughes' poem opens with a couple of rhetorical questions:

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

Like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore-

And then run?

Example 2 of how to quote four or more lines of poetry

Maya Angelou's inspiring poem offers words of encouragement to the downtrodden:

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I'll rise.

Example 3 of how to quote four or more lines of poetry

The poet John Donne, in his thought-inspiring poem, reveals the deep connection we have to humanity:

Any man's death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind,

And therefore, never send to know for whom the bell tolls;

It tolls for thee.

You now know how exactly to quote a poem in an MLA essay. It is now to discover how to cite a poem in MLA. Citing is not the same thing as quoting. It is more complex. Check the section below to understand.

How to cite a poem in an MLA Paper or Essay

When you name, discuss, mention, or refer to a poem, it is best to cite it so that your reader can read more about it if they want to. Failure to properly cite a poem or any other work you use or discuss in your essay is wrong and is considered academic dishonesty. It will make your essay look like it is missing something and reduce your chances of getting an excellent grade (professors do not like poorly cited essays).

When citing a poem in your essay, you must cite it in-text and on the reference page.

Citing a poem in-text has a few rules that you need to follow. The most important rule is clearly stating the author's last name. The purpose of doing this is to enable the reader to quickly locate the author of the work and the associated source on your references page.

Follow the rules below to cite any poem in-text in your MLA essay properly.

A. How to cite a poem with no line numbers or page numbers

You can find a poem on a website or a published text without any lines or page numbers. The correct way to cite it is only by the author's last name. Do not count the lines or the pages manually for your in-text citation.

Example of how to cite a poem with no line numbers or page numbers

"Every man is a piece of the continent, / A part of the main." (Donne)

B. How to cite a poem with line numbers

Sometimes poems are published with line numbers on the side. This is often true in official poem collections. When you quote or talk about a poem with line numbers in your essay, your in-text citation must show the exact lines you have quoted or are talking about.

Your citation should begin with the author's last name followed by a comma and the exact lines you have quoted or are discussing. Once you cite a poem with line numbers in this manner, put line numbers only in parentheses in subsequent references to the same poem.

Example of how to cite a poem with line numbers

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / And sorry I could travel both" (Frost, lines 1-2).

C. How to cite a poem with page numbers

A poem can be published over several pages. If a poem is published over several pages but without line numbers, you should provide an in-text citation referencing the exact page number you have quoted or are talking about.

Your citation should begin with the author's last name and the page number. Unlike in the case of line numbers, you are not supposed to put a comma between the poet's last name and the page number.

Example of how to cite a poem with page numbers

"For they sweet love remembered such wealth brings, / That, then I scorn to change my state with kings." (Shakespeare 38).

D. How to cite a poem multiple times

When you cite a poem severally in the same paragraph, you don't need to repeat the entire in-text citation over and over again. You need to put only the line number or page number you are referring to in parentheses.

Example of how to cite a poem consecutively in the same paragraph

"And be one traveler, long I stood / And looked down one as far as I could"

Citing a poem on the reference page MLA

Every poem you cite in-text should have the full citation on your references page. How you reference a poem on the references page depends on the source.

Poems can be found in many places (e.g., online, in a book, or in an anthology). The way you cite a poem you've found online is not the same you cite a poem you've found in a book.

A. How to cite a poem found online

When you find a poem online or on a website, there is a way you need to cite it. You must begin with the author's last name and then their first name. You need to follow the poet's name with the poem's name in parentheses. Check out the format below.

Online citation format:

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title." Year of publication. Title of the website, Website Publisher, Link. Accessed day month year.

Online citation example:

Shakespeare, William. "Sonnet 29." 1609. Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45090/sonnet-29-when-in-disgrace-with-fortune-and-mens-eyes. Accessed 19 Feb. 2023.

B. How to cite a poem from a book

When you find a poem in a book, there are rules you need to follow in citing it. The first two elements of the citation (the name and the title of the poem, will be formatted the same way as when citing a poem from an online source. The other elements are different, so the formatting is a bit different. Check out the format below.

Book citation format

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title." Book Title, Publisher. Year of publication, Page number/range.

Book citation example

Shakespeare, William. "Sonnet 29." William Shakespeare Poem Collection, Oxford University Press, 2009, p. 32.

C. How to cite a poem from an anthology

An anthology is a collection of poems from different authors. How you cite a poem from an anthology is not the same way you cite a poem from a book with poems from solely one author. Use the format below to cite a poem from an anthology.

Anthology citation format

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Work." Anthology Collection, edited by (first name and last name), edition (if applicable), volume (if applicable), Publisher, year of anthology publication, page number or page range.

Anthology citation example:

Hughes, William. "Dark Oceans." Collection of Modern South African Poems , edited by John Moore, Cape Town University Press, 2009, p. 77.

As we wind up this Super Guide...

If you made it this far, you are now conversant with how to quote poems in an MLA paper. You can now comfortably cite poems from different sources. We hope that the information we have shared with you should make it easy for you to quote and cite poems easily in your MLA essays.

How to write a poem analysis essay.
How to write an expository essay.
How to write a rhetorical analysis essay.

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