Citing Poetry
When using short (fewer than three lines of verse) quotations from poetry, mark breaks in verse with a slash, ( / ), at the end of each line of verse (a space should precede and follow the slash). If a stanza break occurs during the quotation, use a double slash ( // ).
Cullen concludes, "Of all the things that happened there / That's all I remember" (11-12).
When citing long sections of poetry (four lines of verse or more), keep formatting as close to the original as possible with the entire quote indented 1/2 inch from the left margin.
In his poem "My Papa's Waltz," Theodore Roethke explores his childhood with his father:
The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.
We Romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother's countenance
Could not unfrown itself. (1-8)
Cullen concludes, "Of all the things that happened there / That's all I remember" (11-12).
When citing long sections of poetry (four lines of verse or more), keep formatting as close to the original as possible with the entire quote indented 1/2 inch from the left margin.
In his poem "My Papa's Waltz," Theodore Roethke explores his childhood with his father:
The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.
We Romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother's countenance
Could not unfrown itself. (1-8)