Citing a poem
Published February 3, 2021. Updated November 30, 2021.
To create a reference or citation for a poem, you will need to know the author of the poem, title of the poem, title of the book, publication date, publisher, and place of publication.
The templates and examples below will show you how to cite a poem in MLA style, APA style, Chicago style, and Harvard referencing style.
Easily cite a poem in the style of your choice using the Chegg Writing citation generator.
Citing a poem in MLA style
In-text citation example:
(Baker)
Works cited entry example:
Baker, Daniel. “Fives Odes on Absence.” Scavenger Loop: Poems, W. W. Norton, 2015, pp. 27–33.
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For more examples and information, view our citing a poem in MLA guide.
Citing a poem in APA style
In-text citation example:
(Baker, 2015)
Reference list entry example:
Baker, D. (2015). Fives odes on absence. In D. Baker (Ed.) Scavenger loop: Poems (pp. 27–33). New York: W. W. Norton).
For more examples and information, view our citing a poem in APA guide.
Citing a poem in Chicago style, notes-bibliography
Footnotes example:
Note
Daniel Baker, “Fives Odes on Absence,” in Scavenger loop: Poems, ed. Daniel Baker (New York: W. W. Norton, 2015), 27.
Bibliography entry example:
Baker, Daniel. “Fives Odes on Absence.” In Scavenger loop: Poems, edited by Daniel Baker, 27. New York: W. W. Norton, 2015.
For more examples and information, view our citing a poem in Chicago Style guide.
Citing a poem in Chicago style, author-date
In-text citation example:
(Baker 2015)
Reference list entry example:
Baker, Daniel. 2015. “Fives Odes on Absence.” In Scavenger loop: Poems, edited by Daniel Baker, 27. New York: W. W. Norton.
For more examples and information, view our citing a poem in Chicago Style guide.
How to cite a poem in Harvard referencing style
In-text citation example:
(Baker, 2015)
Reference list entry template and example:
Baker, D. (2015) ‘Fives odes on absence’, in Baker, D. (ed.) Scavenger loop: Poems. New York, NY: W. W. Norton, pp. 27–33.
For more examples and information, view our citing a poem in Harvard Referencing Style guide.
Writing a paper? Don’t forget to include a bibliography.
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To cite a poem in MLA style, the core elements required are the poet’s name, the poem title, the book name, the editor’s name (if applicable), the publisher’s name, publication date, and relevant page number(s). The table below shows how to format the in-text citation and the works-cited entry for a poem in MLA style.
In-text citation template & example:
(Author’s Surname Page Numbers)
(Clare 394)
Works-cited list entry template & example:
Poet’s Surname, First Name. “Title of the Poem.” Title of the Book, Name(s) of the Editor(s), general editor, Edition, Volume, Publisher, Publication Date, page. number(s).
Clare, John. “Autumn.” Poems of the Middle Period 1822–1837, Eric Robinson, general editor, 1st ed., vol. 5, Oxford UP, 2003, p. 394.
Short quotes are 1-3 lines in length. Line breaks are marked by a forward slash “/” and the quotation is formatted like regular quoted text: in quotation marks with the author and location mentioned in prose or in a parenthetical citation.
Short poem quotation example:
“First verse of the poem quote / Second line of the poem quote. / Third line of the poem quote” (Smith 24).
Long quotation
Long quotations are more than 3 lines in length and are formatted as block text. Do not use quotation marks. Indent the text by a half-inch. If the poem has unusual spacing, try to mimic it in the block quote.
Examples:
First verse of the poem quote,
Second line of the poem quote.
Third line of the poem quote,
Fourth line of the poem quote. (Smith 24)
Shakespeare plays, as well as other verse plays and works often provide act, scene, and line numbers instead of page numbers. For these types of works, you may include the act, scene, and line numbers in the in-text citation.
Example: (Macbeth 2.3.10-11)
The above in-text citation tells you that the cited information came from Act II, Scene 3, Lines 10-11 of Macbeth.
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