Overview
Quote poetry can be a tricky thing to do correctly. Citing poetry correctly is especially important when it comes to academic writing because it helps add to the credibility of the paper. When it comes to citing poetry, Chicago Style is one of the most popular forms of citation. This guide will walk you through how to correctly cite poetry in Chicago Style.
In-text Citation
When citing poetry in-text, provide two pieces of information—the author’s name and the line you are quoting. If the author’s name is not mentioned in the sentence, you should put the name in parentheses after the quotation. However, if the author’s name is mentioned in the sentence, you don’t need to include it. Here’s and example of both formats:
- “Our city’s people find ways to keep going” (King).
- As King states, “Our city’s people find ways to keep going”.
It’s also important to note that when quoting poetry, Chicago Style allows for line breaks in the quoted text. This means that you don’t need to include the slashes to indicate that a line break has been used.
Disambiguating Quotes
Sometimes it may be helpful to add an extra bit of information after a quotation in order to make its meaning more clear. When it comes to citing poetry Chicago Style allows for an endnote to be appended to the quote to provide further clarification. The information should be provided after the period that ends the sentence. Here’s a example:
“Our city’s people find ways to keep going.”1
For this example the endnote could read:
1. King, line 15.
Bibliography Entries
When it comes to citing poetry Chicago Style requires bibliography entries for each source cited. The information concerning how to create a bibliography entry for a poem can be found in the Chicago Manual of style. Here is an example of what a bibliography entry for a poem in Chicago Style should look like:
King, Martin Luther Jr. “The Dream.” Race and Education Project, edited by Chester S. Williams and Patricia A. Williams, University Press of America, 1981: 60-1
Short Quotations
Short quotations are defined as 20 words or less. For short quotations you don’t need to include a bibliography entry, but if you do choose to include one make sure to follow the same rules that are stated above.
Long Quotations
Long quotations are defined as 21 words or more. When it comes to citing long quotations in Chicago Style, the text of the quotation should be indented across from the regular margin. Here is an example of how the quotation looks after it’s been properly indented:
Our city’s people find ways
to keep going.2
2. King, line 15.
It’s also important to note that for long quotations you do not need to include quotation marks.
Free Verse Poetry
When it comes to citing free verse poetry in Chicago Style there are a few extra rules that need to be followed. When citing free verse poetry, make sure to include the title of the poem and the line number instead of the page number in the bibliography entry.
Conclusion
Citing poetry correctly is important when it comes to credibility of a paper. Knowing how to cite poetry correctly in Chicago Style can save you valuable time. Be sure to keep the rules stated in this guide in mind when it comes to citing poetry Chicago Style.
