do you underline name of a poem in an essay

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How to Reference a Poem Title in an Essay

Whether you are writing an essay about a poet or simply quoting a poem or referring to its themes, you may find yourself needing to reference the poem's title. However, it can be hard to remember whether the title is italicized, underlined or put into quotation marks. Although the treatment varies depending on the length of the poem and the format you are using, you can follow some general rules for citing poem titles in your paper.

Write the title of the poem in title case. All of the words should be capitalized except articles ("a," "an" or "the"), short prepositions ("in," "on," "with," "at") or coordinating conjunctions ("but," "and," "nor," "or," "so").

Put quotation marks around the poem's title unless it is a novel-length epic poem, such as "Paradise Lost" or "The Divine Comedy." In that case, italicize or underline the title.

Cite the poem with a parenthetical citation if you are using MLA or APA format. For MLA format, write the poet's last name and the page number from which you drew the specific portion of the poem you are citing. If you are citing specific lines, include those after the page number: (Frost 16, lines 23-26). For APA format, write the author's name, the year of publication and the page number from which you drew the information preceded by "p.": (Frost, 1997, p. 16). Do not include a page number if you are citing a website unless you are citing a PDF or another website that includes page numbers.

Create a footnote if you are using Chicago format. Write the poet's last name, the title of the poem, the name of the poem's anthology or the website from which you drew the poem, and the anthology or website's editor. Include the publisher, year and location of publication if you are citing a print poem and the URL and date of retrieval if you are citing a website. Place the page number and any specific lines from which you drew the information at the end of this footnote.

If you are citing an epic or classic poem, cite the canto, act and scene or book instead of the page number:

Yeats, William Butler, "When You Are Old," in Selected Poems: Fourth Edition, ed. M. L. Rosenthal (New York: Scribner Paperback Poetry, 1996),14, line 5.

Dante, "The Divine Comedy: Purgatorio," trans. John D. Sinclair (London, Oxford University Press, 1961), Canto XXVII, lines 34-36.

Dickinson, Emily, "I Heard A Fly Buzz," Women's Studies Database Reading Room at the University of Maryland, n.d., http://www.mith2.umd.edu/WomensStudies/ReadingRoom/Poetry/Dickinson/i-heard-a-fly-buzz (accessed April 21, 2011).

Bibliography

Cite the poem in your bibliography according to the format you are using in the rest of the essay. For MLA format, include the author's last and first name, the title of the poem in quotation marks, the italicized title of the poem's anthology, the page number of the poem and the anthology's editor, date and place of publication and publisher. If the poem is a novel-length poem contained within a single volume, cite it as you would a novel.

If you found the poem online, cite it as you would any other website, including your date of access. Write "n.d." if no publication date is available.

Cite a short poem like this:

Yeats, William Butler. "When You Are Old." Selected Poems: Fourth Edition. Ed. M. L. Rosenthal. New York: Scribner Paperback Poetry, 1996.14.

Cite a long poem like this:

Virgil. The Aeneid. Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Vintage Classics. 1990.

Cite an online poem like this:

Dickinson, Emily. "I Heard a Fly Buzz." Women's Studies Database Reading Room at the University of Maryland. n.d. Web. 21 April 2011.

Cite the poet, date of publication, poem title, editor, anthology name, page number and date and location of publication for APA format. Cite a long poem as you would a novel. Cite a poem you found online with the poet's name, the website's editor, the name of the website, the retrieval date and the URL.

Yeats, William Butler (1996) When you are old. In M.L. Rosenthal (Ed.), Selected poems: fourth edition (p. 14). New York: Scribner Paperback Poetry.

Virgil (1990). The Aeneid. R. Fitzgerald (trans.). New York: Vintage Classics.

Dickinson, Emily (n.d.). I heard a fly buzz. In Women's Studies Database Reading Room at the University of Maryland (ed.), Selected poems by Emily Dickinson. Retrieved April 21, 2011 from http://www.mith2.umd.edu/.

Cite a bibliographic entry for Chicago Manual of Style as you would a footnote, replacing the commas with periods and omitting line numbers.

Virgil. The Aeneid. Translated by Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Vintage Classics, 1990.

Dickinson, Emily. "I Heard a Fly Buzz." Women's Studies Database Reading Room at the University of Maryland, n.d. http://www.mith2.umd.edu/(accessed April 21, 2011).

• Daily Writing Tips: Rules for Capitalization in Titles
• Purdue Online Writing Lab: MLA Works Cited Page: Books
• Purdue Online Writing Lab: MLA Works Cited Page: Electronic Sources

A resident of the Baltimore area, Rachel Kolar has been writing since 2001. Her educational research was featured at the Maryland State Department of Education Professional Schools Development Conference in 2008. Kolar holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Kenyon College and a Master of Arts in teaching from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland.

Tips for Online Students , Tips for Students

Knowing When To Underline Or Italicize: Your Go-To Guide

Updated: July 11, 2022

Published: May 27, 2021

Knowing when to underline or italicize can be confusing. But it doesn’t have to be! In this article, we’ll lay out all the basics, plus a few common difficulties that confuse many writers, so you’ll be an expert in no time.

At the end of the article, you’ll get the chance to practice your hand at some sample sentences, so you’ll be sure that you know the ins and outs of using italics and underlines.

Italics Vs Underline: Clarifying The Confusion

In the past (before computers and MLA handbooks), italics and underlines were used to emphasize certain words or titles within the text. It let the reader know what was important, or what was separate from the rest of the sentence. They were both used interchangeably, as long as they were consistent.

Now, with the ability to change formatting with the click of a button, italics are generally used to indicate titles, and only sometimes for emphasis. Meanwhile, underlining is mostly reserved to replace italics in handwritten papers. Manuals and guidebooks, such as the MLA handbook, are now widely used in large institutions or according to the country’s standards, so that specific writing conventions, grammar rules, and formatting styles have become uniform.

With that said, the general rule is that italics are used for titles of books, movies, TV and radio shows, magazines, works of art, and long poems. As mentioned before, underlining is a substitute for italics when writing titles by hand.

Proper formatting in an essay can be confusing for many students: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-blue-blazer-holding-white-paper-3727468/

Titles of long works.

Titles that should be italicized are longer works. These include titles of books, movies, TV and radio shows, journals and magazines, and long poems. In the next section, we’ll see how these works differ from titles of shorter works which are put in quotations instead.

• The novel Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, was published in 1847 under the pen name of Currer Bell.
• The movie Home Alone , released in 1990, made a worldwide total of $476,684,675 in box office revenue.

Titles Of Smaller Works

The titles of smaller works are put in “quotations” in order to differentiate them from longer works. These smaller works include titles of chapters, short stories, TV or radio show episodes, articles, and short poems.

In the examples below, note how you can recognize the difference between the shorter works and larger works just by seeing how they are emphasized in the sentence. This makes it impossible to confuse the title of a chapter with the book that it belongs to, or the episode from its TV show.

• The chapter entitled “The Castaway” in Moby Dick describes the near-death experience of a character named Pip.
• Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” was originally published in a Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine.
• The pilot episode of Friends , which was released on September 22, 1994, is called “The One Where Monica Gets A Roommate.”

Punctuation In Titles: Common Confusions

Question marks.

Confusion can come up when a title includes a question mark or an exclamation mark in the title itself. For example, the book Who Has Seen the Wind? includes a question mark in it.

The way to deal with these titles is to italicize the question mark as well, just as it is above. By doing so, you can differentiate this title from an actual question, such as writing: Have you read Gone With the Wind ?

The same idea applies to exclamation marks — for example, the movie Mamma Mia! , which includes an exclamation mark in the title. Note the italicization, and the difference between writing Mamma Mia! , the movie, and writing: I can’t believe that you never watched The Parent Trap !

Commas and periods

The confusion of commas and periods when it comes to quotations is a debate between different handbooks and countries. According to the MLA (Modern Language Association) handbook, commas and periods are placed inside of quotation marks.

• “The Seinfeld Chronicles , ” the first episode of Seinfeld , had 15.4 million viewers in America.
• Among the short stories of James Joyce included in the collection Dubliners are “Araby , ” “The Sisters , ” and “The Encounter.”

Solidify your new skills by completing practice sentences: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-wearing-black-and-white-stripe-shirt-looking-at-white-printer-papers-on-the-wall-212286/

Let’s practice.

Try your hand at your new skills! Below are five sentences without any italics or quotations. Italicize the longer works and put the shorter works in quotations. If you get stuck, check back in the article, and you’ll be an expert in no time. Be sure to pay attention to tricky commas, periods, and question marks.

• The Lazy Controller, chapter two of Thinking Fast and Slow, talks about multitasking and its effect on thinking.
• The Yellow Wallpaper, a short story by Catherine Perkins Gilman, was originally published in The New England Magazine in January 1892.
• John Lennon’s album Imagine included favorites such as Gimme Some Truth, How Do You Sleep?, and, of course, Imagine.
• The premiere episode of Family Matters is called The Mama Who Came To Dinner, and relays the drama of Carl’s mother coming to live with him.
• The short story Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway was first published in a magazine called Transition, and was only later published in his book Men Without Women.

Why Is Proper Indentation Important?

College essays  .

No matter what you study in college, most students write a lot of essays during their school years. While some degrees may put more of an emphasis on writing proper essays , most teachers and professors will expect a certain level of basic grammar and formatting knowledge. Before you even step foot into college, you’ll most likely be expected to write an application essay . It’s important to put your best foot forward, and small formatting rules can go a long way in making a good first impression.

Landing your dream job  

In addition to college essays, prospective employers and job positions will require and look for basic (or advanced, depending on the position) writing skills. Whether you think your dream job requires writing skills or not, writing is a part of everyday life and work, from emails and text messages, to presentations and reports. Having good writing skills will help you make a good first impression, land your dream job, and do your best work.

Proper writing is an important skill for any job: https://www.pexels.com/photo/writing-notes-idea-class-7103/

Having a successful career.

Though different students earn a degree for different reasons, many are hoping to work toward a successful career. In order to do this, the right preparation is key. Preparation may be earning a degree, gaining specific skills, or having the right guidance along the way.

University of the People prepares our students for successful careers by providing program advising , mentorship , and an emphasis on career development . We know that these extra details, much like formatting in an essay, make a big difference for the future success of our students. University of the People is a tuition-free online university that offers degree programs in business administration, computer science, health science, and education.

Wrapping Up

Now you know when to underline or italicize, and much more. To wrap up, italics should be used for the titles of longer works such as movies, books, and TV shows, and underlining for handwritten papers.

In addition, we hope you’ve learned the more tricky rules such as question marks and commas, and that you’ve given some thought to the importance of writing for your future education and success.

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Properly Format Your Titles: Underlines, Italics, and Quotes | Writer’s Relief

by Writer's Relief Staff | Format Your Writing , Proofreading , Punctuation | 47 comments

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Updated 8/21/19

Formatting titles gives some writers a headache. Should the title of songs, stories, movies, books, screenplays, etc. be in italics or quotes? When you’re trying to remember if you’re supposed to use underlining or italics or quotation marks for titles, here are a few simple rules from Writer’s Relief.

Remember that people used to type their work or write it longhand. When titles needed to be italicized, italics were represented by underlining. These days, many people avoid underlining to minimize confusion between words that are underlined and hyperlinks.

3 Simple Tips For Properly Formatting Titles Of Books, Stories, Poems

1) Underlining and italics serve the same purpose. Never do both. Do NOT use quotation marks, underline, or italics together.

2) For any work that stands on its own, you should use italics or underline. (Stories or chapters from within a book are considered PARTS of the book.)

Quick Formatting Style Guide For Your Titles

Books: Italics or Underline

CDs: Italics or Underline

Articles (Newspaper or Magazine): Quotation Marks

Chapter Titles (not chapter numbers): Quotation Marks

Magazines, Newspapers, Journals: Italics or Underline

Names of Ships, Trains, Airplanes, Spacecraft: Italics

Poems : Quotation Marks

Plays: Italics

Short Stories : Quotation Marks

Song Titles: Quotation Marks

Special Phrases (“let them eat cake”), Words, or Sentences: Quotation Marks

Television Shows and Movies: Italics

Television and Radio Episode Titles: Quotation Marks

Knowing when to use quotes, italics, or underlining can be tricky. Writer’s Relief proofreaders can help you proofread your creative writing submissions to be sure your titles are properly formatted.

For more formatting and writing tips follow Writer’s Relief on Twitter!

47 Comments

The English language is hard, man.

Esperanto is a lot better. I suggest looking into it.

That is false, you actually may use both quotes and italics. In certain cases of course.

Thannks! Needed help quickly and got it here 😀

this was a really nice resource for writing a paper that drew on multiple types of resources, thanks. only thing I didn’t find was formatting for movies!

Samuel is correct. You may underline, italicize, or put a quotation mark around the desired title of a book. Many people, (at first,) used to underline the titles of books. People now tend to italicize or put a quotation mark around a title of a book.

Whenever possible, italicizing book titles is a must. However, on social media, we prefer to use ALL caps; we may be in the minority for that—according to a recent poll by Grammar Girl: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/formatting-titles-twitter-and-facebook

Thanks! I have a huge test tomorrow and needed to get some quick study time in.

Formatting needs to adjust for social media, italics aand underline doesn’t work across platforms…. we’re living in the internet age still ruled by the before Internet age period. As of yet unnamed. Please some one fix this and also think of a name. Thx

what about sculptures paintings etc?

jj, sculptures and paintings would be italicized.

Great information, thank you. Do you know how webinar titles should be formatted? Thanks you in advance.

TF, webinar titles should be italicized.

Do you italicize or use quotation marks for the titles of publishers?

Hi, Olivia– Neither. The publisher’s name is just initial capped.

Do all of these rules apply to only books or do they apply to screenplays as well?

Good article!

Very helpful article!

Thanks a bunch!

What if I’m typing the title of a song and quoting what someone said about that song in the same sentence? Is it okay to put quotation marks around both the song title and what the person said? I know it’s grammatically correct but it just doesn’t look right and seems confusing.

The correct way to do it is to put both in quotation marks. If you gave a list of song titles in a sentence, each would be in quotation marks, so having multiple sets of items in quotation marks in one sentence is not uncommon.

Hi, if i want to quote a sentence for text evidence and the author underlined a word in that sentence, then do I have to underline that word when I quote also? Thank You

In copying quoted material, you should follow the extract exactly.

What about albums/EP names? Quote or italics for those?

Per the Chicago Manual of Style, titles of music albums are italic.

Hi! How would you format a quote from a short story from a series? Would you put the series in italics, but the story title itself in quotes?

Would this be appropriate?

“‘Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me,’ I observed.” – Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, “The Red-Headed League”

Is the title of a film series e.g. Star Wars put in italics or quotes?

The name of a specific film is in italics. The name of the series itself doesn’t use italics or quotes. Hope this helps!

Okay so this sentence The author said “James Joyce’s Dubliners is a circular analysis of stagnation and entrapment leading to both individual and collective death in a dead city.” Am I suppose to italicize that or leave it as be? It was in an article.

Hi Nehemiah,

“Dubliners” is the title of a book, so it would be italicized. If the sentence is in quotation marks, it doesn’t need to be italicized.

I’ve been looking but I can’t find any rules around referring to a blog in copy. Does anyone know the rule for this? The context is as follows>

Joe also writes a blog: Good Grammar

Titles of blogs are in italics.

Hello, I would like to subscribe for this weblog to take latest updates, so where can i do it please assist.

You can sign up for our mailing list here: https://writersrelief.com/submit-write-now/

I realize this isn’t really about quotation marks, but I get the distinct impression you know your stuff. Perhaps you can answer this question for me. I do transcription and we don’t use italics. Instead, we use quotation marks. Here is the sentence causing me grief:

“Hi, I’m from “Fern”.”

According to the guidelines I need to follow, Fern has to be in quotations because it’s a magazine title. However, this just doesn’t look right to me. It is correct? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

We can’t really speak toward your particular case, since typically a magazine title would be in italics. Your company follows its own guidelines, so the guidelines we follow wouldn’t really apply. You could consider putting the magazine title in all caps, or using single quotations within the double quotations.

What would you suggest for musical works that are numbered, for example: Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony? Should ‘Fifth Symphony’ be in italics or quotes, or just in normal type?

The title of a musical work is italicized. Whether there is a number in it has no relevance.

If you were to write the name of a charity, would you italicize, underline, or put it in quotation marks.

We recommend checking the Chicago Manual of Style for a definitive answer.

If I am referencing the title of a research paper or special assignment that I wrote, do I put it in quotation marks, or possibly capitalize the first letter in each word? For example:

“The Impact of Globalization on the Global Economy”

If one character is in dialogue with another and is quoting an extract from for example a Shakespeare play, should the quote be in italics? e.g. “I love the quote ‘I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space’.”?

You would seem to have it correct!

Angel Langner, This advice is about a year late, but I never did see an answer for you. Use single quotation marks inside the double quotation marks. “Hi, I’m from ‘Fern.’” Periods and commas are always inside quotation marks.

I have a paper on gender. I am trying to figure out what to use for the Me Too and Times up campaigns?

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When you mention a poem in your paper, do you italicize or underline the name of the poem?

To mention a poem in the body of the paper:

• Italicize the title of the poem
• Capitalize the first letter of words four letters or longer in the poem's title.  

Visit the APA Help guide for other citation questions.

Thank you for using ASK US. For further assistance, please contact your Baker librarians .

• Last Updated Mar 03, 2021
• Answered By Patrick Mullane

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• Writing Tips

Titles in Essays (Italics or Quote Marks?)

4-minute read

• 26th February 2018

Formatting your own essay title is easy (just bung a Heading style on it). Unfortunately, the rules about formatting the titles of existing published works (e.g. a textbook or an article from a journal) are more complicated. Usually, though, it comes down to one question: italics or quote marks?

But most students will need to name a book, journal or website in an essay at some point, so it’s important to know how this works. To help you out, we’ve prepared this guide on when to use italics and when to use quote marks for titles.

When to Use Italics

Titles of longer works are usually italicised. A ‘longer work’ in this case is something presented as a standalone publication. Charles Dickens’ famous novel, for example, would be written as Great Expectations if it were named in an essay.

Other examples of longer works that should be italicised include:

• Books and book-length poems (e.g. ‘An analysis of The Wasteland shows…’)
• Journals, newspapers and magazines (e.g. ‘According to The Guardian …’)
• Websites and blogs (e.g. ‘The project was funded via Unbound …’)
• Films (e.g. ‘ Jaws broke several box-office records…’)
• TV series (e.g. ‘Many fans of The X-Files claim…’)
• Plays and other stage shows (e.g. ‘This production of Swan Lake is…’)
• Paintings and works of art (e.g. ‘The Mona Lisa is currently housed…’)
• Music albums (e.g. ‘The album Sticky Fingers was released in…’)

The key factor is that all of these are standalone products, not part of a greater whole. The main exceptions to this rule are holy texts, such as the Bible, which are not typically italicised.

Italics are also used for the names of particular vehicles in some cases, especially ships and spacecraft. For example, we might write about the space shuttle Enterprise or the HMS Beagle (note that the ‘HMS’ is not italicised, since this is an abbreviation).

When to Use Quote Marks

Quote marks , meanwhile, are usually saved for shorter works. These are often part of a larger publication, such as an article in a newspaper or a chapter in an edited book. For example, if we were to name a book and a chapter in one place we’d write:

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Hugh Wilder’s ‘Interpretive Cognitive Ethology’ was first published in Readings in Animal Cognition , edited by Marc Bekoff and Dale Jamieson.

As indicated by the italics, the book here is called Readings in Animal Cognition . ‘Interpretive Cognitive Ethology’, meanwhile, is an essay from the book, so we use quote marks for this title.

Cases where quotation marks are used for titles include:

• Chapters from books
• Articles in newspapers, magazines and journals
• Particular pages or articles from a website
• Individual poems and short stories
• Episodes from a TV show

It is also common to use quote marks for unpublished writing regardless of length. For example, if you were referring to an unfinished manuscript or a PhD dissertation, you would put the title in quote marks; but if these same documents were published, you would use italics.

Look Out for Exceptions!

The guidelines above will apply in most cases, but there are exceptions. The APA style guide, for example, recommends italicising book titles in the main text of an essay, but not in the reference list. As such, it is wise to check your style guide to see if it has specific advice on formatting titles.

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What about MLA format?

All research papers on literature use MLA format, as it is the universal citation method for the field of literary studies. Whenever you use a primary or secondary source, whether you are quoting or paraphrasing, you will make parenthetical citations in the MLA format [Ex. (Smith 67).] Your Works Cited list will be the last page of your essay. Consult the OWL handout on MLA for further instructions.

Note, however, the following minor things about MLA format:

• Titles of books, plays, or works published singularly (not anthologized) should be italicised unless it is a handwritten document, in which case underlining is acceptable. (Ex. Hamlet , Great Expectations )
• Titles of poems, short stories, or works published in an anthology will have quotation marks around them. (Ex. "Ode to a Nightingale," "The Cask of Amontillado")

Tip If you're using Microsoft Word, you can easily include your name and page number on each page by following the these steps:

• Open "View" (on the top menu).
• Open "Header and Footer." (A box will appear at the top of the page you're on. And a "Header and Footer" menu box will also appear).
• Click on the "align right" button at the top of the screen. (If you're not sure which button it is, hold the mouse over the buttons and a small window should pop up telling you which button you're on.)
• Type in your last name and a space.
• Click on the "#" button which is located on the "Header and Footer" menu box. It will insert the appropriate page number.
• Click "Close" on the "Header and Footer" window.

That's all you need to do. Word will automatically insert your name and the page number on every page of your document.

What else should I remember?

• Don't leave a quote or paraphrase by itself-you must introduce it, explain it, and show how it relates to your thesis.
• Block format all quotations of more than four lines.
• When you quote brief passages of poetry, line and stanza divisions are shown as a slash (Ex. "Roses are red, / Violets are blue / You love me / And I like you").
• For more help, see the OWL handout on using quotes .

When writing a paper, do I use italics for all titles?

Simply put: no .

APA's Publication Manual (2020) indicates that, in the body of your paper , you should use italics for the titles of:

• "books, reports, webpages, and other stand-alone works" (p. 170)
• periodicals (journals, magazines, newspapers)

Beyond APA's specific examples, know that certain types of titles are almost always written in italics. 

A general rule of thumb is that within the text of a paper, italicize the title of complete works but put quotation marks around titles of parts within a complete work. 

The table below isn't comprehensive, but it's a good starting point

On an APA-style  reference page , the rules for titles are a little different.  In short, a title you would italicize within the body of a paper will also be italicized on a reference page.  However, a title you'd place in quotation marks within the body of the paper (such as the title of an article within a journal) will be written without italics and quotation marks on the references page.

Here are some examples:

Smith's (2001) research is fully described in the Journal of Higher Education.

Smith's (2001) article "College Admissions See Increase" was published in the Journal of Higher Education after his pivotal study on the admissions process.

Visit the APA Style's " Use of Italics " page to learn more!

• Reading and Writing
• Last Updated Jun 12, 2022
• Views 2139532
• Answered By Kate Anderson, Librarian

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Comments (8)

• Nice, quick, concise listing. Good format to save for quick reference by AlonzoQuixano on May 14, 2015
• Thank you so much for the information. It was so helpful and easily understandable. by mary woodard on Jun 29, 2015
• Is it the same for MLA writing? Thanks Sara, Librarian: Lesa, Rasmussen College doesn't teach or focus on MLA for students. But if you have specific MLA formatting questions, I recommend you take a look at the MLA FAQ website here: https://www.mla.org/MLA-Style/FAQ-about-MLA-Style by Lesa D.W on Dec 04, 2015
• What about the name of a community program, for example Friend's Read. Would you use quotations or italics? Sara, Librarian: Adriana, great question. for organization or program names in the text of a paper you don't need to use italics or quotation marks. Just capitalize the major words of the organization or program like you did above with Friend's Read. by Adriana on Apr 11, 2016
• Thank you for this posting. I am writing a paper on The Crucible and, surprisingly, I couldn't find on the wonderfully thorough Purdue Owl APA guide whether titles of plays are italicized or in quotes. by J.D. on Apr 18, 2016
• this was really helpful, thank you by natalie on Dec 11, 2016
• thank you so much, this is very helpful and easy to understand. by Mendryll on Jan 24, 2017
• Thank you! I am also wondering, do you capitalize only the first word of the title when using it in the text of your paper, like you are supposed to do in the references list? Or do you capitalize all the "important" words like usual? Sara, Librarian Reply: Ashley, within the text of your paper you should capitalize all the important words like you normally would. Thank you for your question! by Ashley on Dec 04, 2017

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How to Cite a Poem in Harvard Referencing

4-minute read

• 30th August 2020

If you’re writing about poetry in an essay, knowing how to reference a poem is vital. But how does this work? In this post, we explain how to cite a poem in Harvard referencing , including both in the text and in the reference list.

‘Harvard referencing’ is another name for parenthetical author–date referencing . This might sound technical, but all it means in practice is that you cite sources by giving the author’s name and a year of publication in brackets. We could cite a poem like this, for instance:

‘The Fly’ is notable for its unusual choice of subject (Blake, 1794).

Here, we’re citing ‘The Fly’ by William Blake using its original publication date. We would then give full source details in the reference list .

Quoting Poetry

Quoting poetry can be a little different to quoting prose in two respects:

• The kind of pinpoint citation you include.
• How you present quoted poetry on the page.

In terms of pinpoint citations, you may want to use line numbers rather than page numbers, especially if the version you’re quoting includes them.

In terms of presentation, meanwhile, if you’re quoting a single line from a poem, you would quote it like you would any other source:

Donne (1633, line 3) writes, ‘It sucked me first, and now sucks thee’.

But for two or three lines, you will also need to use a forward slash to mark the line breaks. For example:

The poem begins ‘Mark but this flea, and mark in this,/How little that which thou deniest me is’ (Donne, 1633, lines 1-2).

And for longer passages, you should set the poem out as it is in the source:

In the final stanza, Donne (1633, lines 18-22) writes:

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Cruel and sudden, hast thou since Purpled thy nail, in blood of innocence? Wherein could this flea guilty be, Except in that drop which it sucked from thee?

This helps to preserve the flow of the poem you are quoting.

Poems in a Harvard Reference List

The correct format for a poem in a Harvard reference list depends on where you found it. The three most common formats are as follows:

• For a poem published as a standalone book , reference it as a book .
• If the poem is part of a collection or anthology of work by various poets, reference it as a chapter from an edited book .
• For a poem found online , reference it as a page from a website .

You can see examples of Harvard-style references for a few poems below:

Blake, W. (1794) ‘The Fly’, Poets.org [Online]. Available at https://poets.org/poem/fly (Accessed 17 July 2020).

Donne, J. (1633) ‘The Flea’, in Ferguson, M. W., Salter, M. J. and Stallworthy, J. (eds) The Norton Anthology of Poetry , New York, W.W. Norton (this edition 1996), p. 12.

Eliot, T. S. (1922) The Wasteland , London, Faber & Faber (this edition 2019).

Note that, where relevant, we’ve included the date of the edition (or the anthology in which a poem is reproduced) as well as the original date of publication. This is to help the reader find the version you’ve used.

Harvard Variations and Proofreading

For this post, we use a version of Harvard referencing based on the Open University guide [PDF] . However, the exact rules for citing a poem in Harvard referencing may depend on the version of the system you’re using, so make sure to check your style guide if you have one.

And if you want to be extra sure your written work is error free, including your referencing, it pays to have it proofread! Why not submit a free sample document today and find out how our expert editors can help you ensure clarity and consistency in your writing?

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How to Cite a Poem Using APA Style

Last Updated: December 18, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Michelle Golden, PhD . Michelle Golden is an English teacher in Athens, Georgia. She received her MA in Language Arts Teacher Education in 2008 and received her PhD in English from Georgia State University in 2015. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 162,864 times.

The American Psychological Association (APA) style guide is very popular, especially in the social sciences. If you need to write a paper in APA style, there are a lot of different formatting rules to consider. Citing sources, such as poems, can be one of the most confusing things, but if you follow a few simple rules, you'll have perfectly formatted citations.

Quoting a Poem in Your Essay

• For example, introduce a short quote like this. Frost writes, "Some say the world will end in fire."

• For example, cite two line of a poem like this: "Some say the world will end end fire, / Some say in ice."

• You should not use quotation marks with block quotes. It is not necessary because the indentation signifies that it is a quote.
• Be sure to maintain the same double spacing that you have in the rest of your paper.

Using Proper In-Text Citations

• If you mention the author's name in the sentence that introduces the quote, include the year in parentheses after the author's name, and the page number in parentheses after the end of quote. For example: In his poem "Fire and Ice," Robert Frost (1923) says, "Some say the world will end in fire." (p. 1)
• If you don't include the author's name in the sentence that introduces the quote, provide all three pieces of information, separated by commas, in parentheses after the end of the quote. For example: "Some say the world will end in fire." (Frost, 1923, p. 1)
• Parenthetical citations should always come after the punctuation of the preceding sentence.

• If you are not referring to one specific page of the poem, you may omit the page number from your parenthetical citation, although you are encouraged to provide a page number whenever possible.

• Capitalize all major words in the title of any work.
• Put quotation marks around the titles of shorter works (such as most poems).
• Italicize or underline the title of longer works (such as anthologies).

Citing a Poem in Your Works Cited

• Author's last name, Author's first name (Year of publication). Title of work: Subtitle. Location: Publisher.

• Author's last name, Author's first name (Year of publication). Title of poem. In Editor's first and last name (Eds.), Title of book (pp. page #). Location: Publisher.

• In general, if your source does not provide a specific piece of information, it is okay to omit it from the citation.
• Note that when citing multiple pages you should notate it with "pp." instead of "p."

• For a website, include the words "Retrieved from" followed by the full web address at the end of your citation.
• For an e-book, include the e-book format in square brackets directly after the title of the book (for example, [Kindle DX version]). Then include the words "Available from" followed by the website from which you retrieved the e-book at the end of your citation.

• Capitalize only the first word of the title of a book, not every word.
• Do not surround the title of a poem with quotation marks.
• Use the title References at the top of your page.
• Alphabetize your entries by the author's last name. If you have more than one source by the same author, use the date of publication to list them chronologically.
• The first line of each citation should not be indented, but all additional lines should be indented 1 ⁄ 2 inch (1.3 cm) (two spaces) from the left margin.
• Maintain the same double spacing you have throughout the rest of your paper.
• If you are providing annotations (descriptions of your sources), provide them directly beneath your citation, indented two spaces further than the second line of your citation.

Community Q&A

• If you plan on writing a lot of papers using APA format, it's a good idea to buy a print copy of the manual or pay for online access. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• APA is not the only style guide out there, so double check that your teacher wants you to use APA. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• Be sure to cite all of the sources that you quote, paraphrase, or even refer to when writing a paper so that you avoid all appearances of plagiarism. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Don’t forget that you will also have to compose your entire essay or paper according to the APA style. This includes using the APA rules regarding line and paragraph spacing, typeface, margins, etc. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://libguides.swansea.ac.uk/APA7Referencing/Poetry
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/punctuation/quotation_marks/quotation_marks_with_fiction.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_author_authors.html
• ↑ https://penandthepad.com/cite-poem-apa-format-5072453.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_basic_rules.html

About This Article

If you want to cite a poem using the APA style, include your quote from a poem in quotation marks if it's less than 40 words, and use forward slashes to indicate line breaks. To cite a longer passage, begin the quote on a new line and indent it to create a block quotation. For your in-text citation, include the author's name, year of publication, and page number, preceded by the letter "p." When it comes to the title, capitalize all major words, place short titles in quotes, and italicize longer titles. To learn how to include your citation in the works cited section of your essay, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Do You Italicize Book Titles? MLA, Chicago Manual, and APA Rules (Examples)

Whether you are writing a book, a business blog, a research paper, or a magazine article, staying true (and consistent) to grammar and style is extremely important. It makes the entire article/ manuscript consistent and reading easy !

But with so many styles and style guides around, losing track is very common. This is especially true when you are writing titles – of books, stories, poems, chapters, and more – in your articles. Don’t you wonder whether you should underline the book titles, put them in italics, write them in quotation marks , or follow the traditional capital letter style? Well, we all do, and we often find ourselves hovering over different options, completely unsure of which one to choose .

So, should you italicize book titles or underline them?

The general rule says, always italicize book titles, if they are long and complete work. This keeps them distinct and makes them easily recognizable, especially when you are mentioning a book within your content. Italicizing also helps the reader to understand that this particular book is separate from the rest of the work they are reading. However, short titles – of poems, stories, articles, and chapters are often written in quotation marks.

For example:

Long title: Have you read In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust?

Short title: Grab your copy of “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy.

Now, this sometimes, can get very confusing and can put your writing all over the place. So when you are stuck between a right and a wrong, always follow the rule of thumb – How you write book titles in your work is a matter of choice (style). It is not governed by any grammarian law. There is no single source that governs how you must handle titled works and mostly depends on the style guide your publication is following – APA, Chicago, MLA, or any other.

So ask your editor his/ her preference and stick to it across your content. After all, consistency is the key to turning your writing into the most professional-looking copy .

In this article, we’ll help you learn the styling parameters that different style guides follow while writing book titles:

MLA rules for italicizing book titles

MLA stands for Modern Language Association – a United States-based society that styles manuals for students and scholars across the world. The MLA Handbook follows a particular style for documenting book titles, in the text as well as at the end of the article. As per the MLA style guide:

• Titles that are independent and self-contained are italicized.
• If the book title has a subtitle, the subtitle is italicized and separated by a colon (:).
• Titles that are contained in larger works ( e.g. , short stories, chapters) are put in quotations.
• However, when it comes to series titles, the MLA rules are a little confusing. In MLA, if a series title forms a part of the book title, then it is italicized. Otherwise, it is left in plain text. For example, the ‘Twilight Saga’ is a series title that you won’t italicize because it is not the tile of the book. But Harry Potter (a series title) you will italicize because it also forms a part of the title.  
• Godfrey, Wyck., et al. The  Twilight Saga :  New Moon . Two-disc special ed. [Los Angeles, CA], Summit Entertainment, 2010.
• Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 1998.

Chicago Manual of style rules

The Chicago Manual of Style is another widely accepted and used citation system. It is used across various disciplines like the humanities, sciences, social sciences, and more. It has its own style for citing books , titles, and full-length and freestanding works. If you want to follow the Chicago Manual of Style while formatting your book titles, here are some points to remember:

• Always italicize and capitalize the titles of your full-length, freestanding works. These include books, magazines, journals, blogs, research papers, and more.
• Online book citation also follows the same format.
• Chapter titles are always written in quotations and are not italicized.

APA style guide rules

The American Psychological Association (APA) is one of the most common and widely used reference styles. It is mostly used as a citation style for books and manuals written in the field of social sciences, psychology, sociology, and more.  It has its own set of rules for in-text and reference list citations. But when it comes to italicizing the books’ titles, the rules are pretty similar.

• Though in the APA, italicizing is kept to the bare minimum, long book titles, periodicals, webpages, reports, and standalone work are all italicized.
• Chapter titles in the APA are neither italicized nor written within quotes; the book titles however are. Also, the name of the chapter’s author is written in the first position.

7th Edition rules

The seventh edition of the APA is the latest edition and its purpose is to help students, scholars, and researchers write and communicate more effectively. Some of the biggest changes brought by the APA in its seventh edition include:

• The first letter (of the first word) of the title is capitalized.
• If there is a colon (:) in the title, the first letter after the colon is also capitalized.
• Proper names in titles are always capital
• Titles of books, magazines, journals, and newspapers are always italicized.
• Titles of articles or book chapters are not italicized.
• The title of the webpage is always italicized.
• The publisher’s location is no longer included in the reference.

When to Italicize Book Titles

As you could see , when it comes to writing book titles, a common rule applies across all styles ( barring a few exceptions ). So, if you are not following a particular citation style that asks you to do otherwise, this is a general rule that you can easily fall back on:

• Always italicize the titles of self-contained, independent work: books, albums
• Always italicize the titles of large books, like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
• Always italicize magazine names, like The New Yorker
• Always italicize newspapers, like The New York Times

Italicizing titles creates a visual hierarchy and helps a reference source stand out from the rest of the text.

When to Avoid Italicizing Book Titles?

While most book titles should be italicized, there are some exceptions to the rule:

• Short titles or titles of smaller works are not italicized. These include titles of short stories, poems, and chapters.
• The title of the series is not italicized. For example, while you would italicize Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , you would not highlight the Harry Potter Series.
• Holy Books like The Bible and Quran, along with their sections, are not italicized.
• Headlines and course titles are also not italicized.

Do You Underline Book Titles?

No, we do not underline book titles . Underlining is an old formatting style that was once extensively used to emphasize certain words, phrases, and titles. But today, due to the availability of extensive formatting options, underlining has lost its mark and is not used as a preferred formatting option.   

However, if you are writing with a medium that does not offer the option to italicize, you may underline the text to emphasize it.

Do You Quote Book Titles?

Books, magazines, newspapers, and series all comprise many smaller parts, like a short poem, a chapter, a short story, and an episode. When citing these small pieces of work, we prefer writing them in quotation marks.

The teacher read a story titled “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl.

I missed the last episode of “Shaun the Sheep”.

 Susan is reading “The Fellowship of the Ring” from the Lord of the Rings .

Do You Italicize Book Series Titles?

While italics are used to emphasize book titles, trilogies and book series titles are only capitalized, not italicized.

What About Children’s Book Titles, Do Those Get Italicized?

Children’s books in style guides get the same treatment as other authored books. That is, titles of full works are italicized but short titles of poems, short stories, articles, or chapters are put within quotation marks. Also, in addition to the author’s name, they also include the illustrator’s name.

• Italics and Underlining: Titles of Works
• Treatment of titles
• Do You Italicize Book Titles In APA? A Must Read
• Should You Underline Or Italicise Book Titles?
• Do You Italicize Book Titles? Essay Secrets Revealed
• Should You Italicize Book Titles? A Guide to Formatting Titles

Inside this article

Fact checked: Content is rigorously reviewed by a team of qualified and experienced fact checkers. Fact checkers review articles for factual accuracy, relevance, and timeliness. Learn more.

About the author

Dalia Y.: Dalia is an English Major and linguistics expert with an additional degree in Psychology. Dalia has featured articles on Forbes, Inc, Fast Company, Grammarly, and many more. She covers English, ESL, and all things grammar on GrammarBrain.

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