How do I cite an online poem with no line numbers?

As the MLA Handbook notes, “When a source has no page numbers or any other kind of part number, no number should be given in a parenthetical… Read More

If I am citing two poems, each by a different poet, should I use the word line or lines the first time I quote from each poet’s work?

Yes. The MLA Handbook says that “in your first citation” of a poem, “use the word line or lines and then, having established that the numbers designate lines, give… Read More

How do I cite a poem quoted in a journal article?

If in your essay you use a quotation from a poem that you found in a journal article, your in-text citation should include “qtd. in.”… Read More

How should I style my parenthetical citation the first time I quote lines from a poem if I have not mentioned the author’s name in my prose?

The MLA Handbook explains that if you are citing line numbers instead of page numbers in your parenthetical citation, you should “in your first citation, use the word… Read More

How do I cite a phrase from a poem quoted in the published version of a speech?

To cite a poem quoted in the published version of a speech, create a works-cited-list entry for the speech since it is your source. You… Read More

How do I show the blank space between stanzas when quoting from a poem?

Use a single line space to separate stanzas of poetry, as in this excerpt from Felicia Hemans’s “The Image in Lava”: Thou thing of years… Read More

How do I cite the Homeric hymns?

The Homeric hymns refer to poems that were once attributed, mistakenly, to the ancient Greek poet Homer. They are Homeric only in the sense that… Read More

If I cite a poem posted to a blog by someone who is not the poem’s author, do I need to write “posted by” and the blogger’s name in the “Other contributors” slot?

It depends on whether the person posting the poem is responsible for the blog as a whole.  If the blogger is responsible for the entire… Read More

How do I cite more than one sonnet from a sequence of sonnets?

As always, when you are citing a work contained in a larger work, you must identify the particular work you are citing. Thus, if you… Read More

Can I create a works-cited-list entry for an essay, poem, or story in a collection by one author?

If you are citing more than one essay, poem, or story by the same author and using a single collection of that author’s works—edited or… Read More