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MLA Citation Guide (9th Edition): Poetry

Abbreviating Months

In your works cited list, abbreviate months as follows: 

January = Jan.
February = Feb.
March = Mar.
April = Apr.
May = May
June = June
July = July
August = Aug.
September = Sept.
October = Oct.
November = Nov.
December = Dec.

Spell out months fully in the body of your paper. 

Formatting

Note: For your Works Cited list, all citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

Poetry Taken from an Edited Collection

Author of Poem's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Poem." Title of Book: Subtitle if Any, edited by Editor's First Name Last Name, Edition if given and is not first, Publisher Name often shortened, Year of Publication, pp. Page Numbers of the Poem.

Works Cited List Example  

Nezhukumatathil, Aimee. "I Could Be a Whale Shark." The Long Devotion: Poets Writing Motherhood, edited by Emily Pérez and Nancy Reddy, University of Georgia Press, 2022, pp. 113-114.
In-Text Citation Example

(Author of Poem's Last Name, line(s) Line Number(s))

Example: (Nezhukumatathil, lines 37-39)

 Note: If your quotation contains more than one line from the poem use forward slashes (/) between each line of the poem. For line breaks that occur between stanzas, use a double forward slash (//). 

Example

Aimee Nezhukumatathil makes analogies between her own pregnant body and the bodies of ocean creatures, writing, "The quickening, they call it / but all I am is slow, a moon jelly / floating like a bag in the sea" (lines 12-14).

 Note: If citing more than 3 lines, follow the rules for a long quotation. 

Learn more: See the MLA Handbook, pp. 78-79, 121-122

Poetry Taken from a Website

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Poem." Title of Website, Name of Organization Affiliated with the Website, Date of copyright or date last modified/updated, URL. Accessed Day Month Year site was visited.

Works Cited List Example  

Ahn, Joo Cheol. "It Faintly Lingers." Translated by Jeanine Walker and Shim Jaekwan, Poetry Foundation, 2024, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/162715/it-faintly-lingers. Accessed 28 August 2024.
In-Text Citation Example

(Author of Poem's Last Name, line(s) Line Number(s))

Example: (Ahn, line 5)

 Note: If your quotation contains more than one line from the poem use forward slashes (/) between each line of the poem. For line breaks that occur between stanzas, use a double forward slash (//). 

Example

Ahn distinguishes between the inner self and the outer world, writing, "Sometimes inside me a full feeling arises and / inside me is almost full of things other than me but / it's far from me. It's forever in the distance" (lines 9-11).

 Note: If citing more than 3 lines, follow the rules for a long quotation. 

 

In-Text Citation Rules for Poetry

Information included in poem In-Text Citation Example
Poem includes line numbers

(Author of Poem's Last Name, line(s) Line Number(s))

Example: (Dawes, line 10-12)
Poem doesn't include line numbers

(Author of Poem's Last Name)

Example: (Drake)

Poem includes divisions (acts, scenes, cantos,

books, parts) and line numbers

(Author of Poem's Last Name Division Number. Line Number(s))

Example: (Pope 5.645-646)

Note: 5.645-646 refers to canto 5, lines 645-646 

Learn more: See the MLA Handbook, pp. 121-122