MLA Poetry Citations | Format & Examples
If you’re taking a literature course, you’ll probably write essays with MLA citations for poetry.
Sentences that quote or paraphrase a poem need in-text citations. Each source that you cite also needs a Works Cited entry.
Because poems are published in a variety of ways, MLA poetry citations have various guidelines.
The examples below will help you learn how to cite poems in MLA format. You can also use QuillBot’s free Citation Generator to write in-text citations and Works Cited entries for poems.
| In-text citation | Works Cited entry |
|---|---|
| Frost writes, “The woods are lovely, dark and deep, / but I have promises to keep.” |
Frost, Robert. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” 1923. Penguin Anthology of 20th-Century American Poetry, edited by Rita Dove, Penguin, 2011, p. 20.
|
How to quote poetry in MLA
Quotations are common in essays about poems because they show where and how the poet uses literary devices. For each line that you quote, use the same capitalization, punctuation, and styling as the original text. (Sometimes poets use creative spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and spacing.)
If you’re quoting one line, place quotation marks on either side of it. If you’re quoting multiple lines, MLA has additional formatting requirements.
2-3 lines
When you’re quoting 2–3 lines from the poem, use a forward slash to mark each line break. If there is a stanza break between the lines, use double forward slashes.
Heaney’s imagery becomes especially vivid before the last stanza: “Our hands were peppered / With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard’s. // We hoarded the fresh berries in the byer.”
4+ lines
If you quote four or more lines of a poem, use the block quotation format. Introduce the block quotation with a sentence that ends with a colon. Then, start the quotation on the next line, and indent the block quotation ½ inch. Block quotations should not have quotation marks.
If you need to cite a page or line number, place it in parentheses after the last line of the quotation. If the last line you’re quoting has end punctuation, the parentheses goes after that (rather than before end punctuation like in-text citations for regular quotations).
In the damp parts of the afternoon
We’d watch them running laps and
Ripping Papatūānuku up
with their cleats. Their teeth clenched
Around orange slices of rubber and the reo.
Hunter personifies the wind in the third stanza:
How a mild breeze
can shut a door so that
you look up wondering
what she wants of you:
nothing and everything. (34)
MLA in-text citations for poems
MLA also has special guidelines for in-text citations of poetry. Sometimes you only need an author, and other times, you might need page numbers or line numbers.
Authors in MLA poetry citations
The first time you mention a poem in an MLA document, use the author’s full name and the title of the poem in a complete sentence, like this example:
- Tayi Tibble’s poem “Lil Mermaidz” describes the experiences of Māori adolescents.
After that, the guidelines for citing the author depend on how and why you’re using evidence from the poem.
Always cite the poet’s name when it would otherwise be unclear who you’re quoting or paraphrasing. For example, if the essay discusses multiple literary works, the poet’s name should be in narrative or parenthetical citations. These citations may also need pages or lines depending on other factors (covered in the next section).
If you cite the poet in a signal phrase and you’re citing pages/lines, put the locator information in parentheses at the end of the sentence. If you didn’t cite the poet in a signal phrase, put the poet’s last name in parentheses at the end of the sentence (along with locator information if relevant).
You can omit the poet’s name in these situations:
- The entire essay is about one poem, so citing the name repeatedly would be redundant. (Do use the poet’s name in signal phrases and transitions periodically.)
- The essay is about multiple poems by the same poet, which means you can sometimes omit the author but should cite each poem’s title for clarity.
- The previous sentence cites the same poet, and it’s clear you’re still talking about the same poem.
In the third stanza, Hunter uses alliteration: “Sparks of fluttering rings / as she shows the shape of the smoke” (35).
The fourth stanza includes images of a beach and a parking lot (Smith 15–16).
Line numbers vs page numbers
MLA guidelines for citing locator information also depend on different factors. Some in-text citations should omit locator information and cite an author only. Others need the line number(s) or a page number. The following chart shows when to cite lines or pages.
| What to cite | MLA Guideline | Example |
|---|---|---|
| No locator information | The poem is on a website without numbered pages or line numbers, or the poem is from a book where it’s on a single page. | Rebecca Faulkner begins “Iron Lung” with the lines, “She is a better gambler than friend always late / her fiery pony-tail swinging gatecrashing the party.” |
| Line number(s) | The poem’s lines are numbered in the margins (whether the poem is from a website, book, or any other container).
Use the word “lines” in the first in-text citation. After that, you only need the number(s). |
Eliot’s poem begins, “April is the cruelest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land” (lines 1–2).
Images of shadows are prevalent in Eliot’s second stanza: “Your shadow at morning striding behind you / Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you” (27–29). |
| Page number | The poem spans two or more pages of a book, and the lines are not numbered. | Hunter writes, “Man on a marble lawn looks up at / singing of sorts shading into murmur” (67). |
MLA Works Cited entry for a poem
The Works Cited format varies depending on where a poem was published or where you accessed it. The first part of each Works Cited entry is always the poet’s last name, first name. Include a middle name or middle initial if the poet’s byline has either of these.
Works Cited entries for all sources have a hanging indent (all lines after the first are intended ½ inch). Some common variations for poems are illustrated below.
Poem in a book
Many poets publish collections of their poetry in books. If you access a poem this way, the Works Cited entry follows the format below.
| MLA format | Works Cited entry |
|---|---|
|
Author. “Poem Title.” Book Title, Publisher, publication year, page range. |
Hunter, Robert. “Sonnets in Stone.” Sentinel, Penguin, 1993, pp. 67–68. |
Poem in a journal or magazine
Poems are also sometimes published in academic journals or literary magazines. If you access the journal or magazine from an academic database, include the database name and a stable link, as in MLA journal article citations. Otherwise, omit these details.
| MLA format | Works Cited entry |
|---|---|
|
Author. “Poem Title.” Journal Title, vol. #, no. #, month/season year, pp. xxx-xx. Academic Database, DOI or stable link. |
Hindi, Noor. “Breaking [News].” Poetry, vol. 217, no. 3, Dec. 2020, p. 409. JSTOR, jstor.org/stable/27202769. (MLA permits omitting “http” or “www” when it improves the visual appeal of a Works Cited entry.) |
Poem in an anthology
You might also access a poem in a literature anthology, especially if you’re writing about the poem for a literature course. These Works Cited entries include the anthology title, editor, and other details (just like MLA book citations for other short works in edited anthologies). If the poem’s original publication year is relevant, include it after the poem title.
| MLA format | Works Cited entry |
|---|---|
|
Author. “Poem Title.” original publication year. Book Title, edited by Editor’s First and Last Name, Publisher, year, page number(s). |
Frost, Robert. “Mending Wall.” 1914. Penguin Anthology of 20th-Century American Poetry, edited by Rita Dove, Penguin, 2011, p. 17. |
Poem on a website
When you access a poem on a website, include the name of the website and the URL in the Works Cited entry, just as you would for other MLA website citations. Also include the publication date (in MLA date format) if the website provides it or a date of access if not. If the poem’s original publication year is relevant, include it after the poem title.
| MLA format | Works Cited entry |
|---|---|
|
Author. “Poem Title.” original publication year. Website Name, publication date, URL. |
Heaney, Seamus. “Blackberry Picking.” 1966. Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50981/blackberry-picking. Accessed 7 Nov. 2024. |
Frequently asked questions about MLA poetry citations
- What’s the MLA format for a poem title?
-
The MLA format for a poem title is to use quotation marks around the title and to capitalize all of the principal words. Capitalize nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions.
Minor words, such as prepositions (e.g., “behind” or “with”) and coordinating conjunctions (e.g., “and” or “but”) should not be capitalized unless they’re the first or last word of the title or the first word after a colon.
The guidelines apply to MLA poetry citations on the Works Cited page and any titles that you mention in the main text.
You can also use QuillBot’s free Citation Generator to format poem titles correctly in MLA writing and Works Cited entries.
- Do you cite line numbers for poems?
-
Only cite line numbers for poems when there are line numbers on the original source. For example, if a website or book provides line numbers, all MLA in-text citations for quotes or paraphrases should include line numbers.
In the first MLA poetry citation, include the word “line” or “lines” before the numbers. In subsequent in-text citations, use the numbers only.
MLA line number citations examples Eliot’s poem begins, “April is the cruelest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land” (lines 1–2).Images of shadows are prevalent in Eliot’s second stanza: “Your shadow at morning striding behind you / Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you” (27–29).
If the source does not number the poem’s lines, omit line numbers from in-text citations. Only cite a page if the poem spans two or more pages of the source (e.g., a book or literary magazine).
If the poem is on one page and lines aren’t numbered, omit locator information from in-text citations.
You can also use QuillBot’s free Citation Generator to create MLA poetry citations.
