📝 How to Cite a Poem: APA, MLA & Chicago Style Examples for 2025

Whether you’re quoting Shakespeare or a modern Instagram poet, citing poems correctly is essential for academic writing. But with all the formatting styles out there—APA, MLA, Chicago—it can be confusing to know where to start.

Don’t worry. This guide will walk you through how to cite a poem in all three major citation styles—APA, MLA, and Chicago—with easy-to-follow formats and real examples.

🧠 Why You Should Cite a Poem

Citing a poem gives credit to the poet and helps your readers find the original source. It’s especially important when:

Quoting a line or stanza in your essay
Analyzing a specific passage
Referencing a poet’s ideas or themes

💬 Yes, even if the poem is super short—you still need to cite it!

📚 How to Cite a Poem in MLA Style (9th Edition)

MLA style is commonly used in literature, arts, and humanities—making it perfect for poetry citations.

🎯 MLA Format: Poem from a Book

Last Name, First Name. “Title of Poem.” Title of Book, edited by Editor’s Name, Publisher, Year, Page number(s).

✅ Example:

Frost, Robert. “The Road Not Taken.” The Poetry of Robert Frost, edited by Edward Connery Lathem, Henry Holt, 2002, pp. 105–106.

🧾 In-text Citation (MLA):

(Frost 105)

📖 MLA: Poem from a Website

Angelou, Maya. “Still I Rise.” Poets.org, Academy of American Poets, https://poets.org/poem/still-i-rise. Accessed 15 Mar. 2025.

📝 How to Cite a Poem in APA Style (7th Edition)

APA style is mostly used in the social sciences, but if you’re writing an interdisciplinary paper, it may be required.

🎯 APA Format: Poem in a Book

Poet’s Last Name, First Initial. (Year). Title of poem. In Editor’s Initial. Last Name (Ed.), Title of book (pp. pages). Publisher.

✅ Example:

Frost, R. (2002). The road not taken. In E. C. Lathem (Ed.), The poetry of Robert Frost (pp. 105–106). Henry Holt.

🧾 In-text Citation (APA):

(Frost, 2002)

🧠 APA doesn’t italicize individual poem titles—only book titles.

📰 How to Cite a Poem in Chicago Style (17th Edition)

Chicago style offers two systems: Notes and Bibliography and Author-Date. Here’s how to cite a poem using the Notes and Bibliography system.

🎯 Chicago Format: Poem in a Book (Bibliography)

Poet’s Last Name, First Name. “Title of Poem.” In Title of Book, edited by Editor’s Full Name, page range. City of Publication: Publisher, Year.

✅ Example:

Frost, Robert. “The Road Not Taken.” In The Poetry of Robert Frost, edited by Edward Connery Lathem, 105–106. New York: Henry Holt, 2002.

🧾 Footnote Format:

Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken,” in The Poetry of Robert Frost, ed. Edward Connery Lathem (New York: Henry Holt, 2002), 105.

🧩 How to Quote Lines from a Poem (All Styles)

MLA:

Use a slash (/) to separate lines and double slashes (//) for stanza breaks.

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / And sorry I could not travel both” (Frost 105).

APA:

Quote short poems as prose. For longer quotes, use a block quote format without quotation marks.

Chicago:

Use slashes for short quotes and block format for longer ones (four or more lines), just like MLA.

📖 Citing a Poem from an Anthology

MLA Example:

Dickinson, Emily. “Because I could not stop for Death.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature, edited by Robert S. Levine, W.W. Norton, 2017, pp. 2113–2114.

APA Example:

Dickinson, E. (2017). Because I could not stop for Death. In R. S. Levine (Ed.), The Norton anthology of American literature (pp. 2113–2114). W.W. Norton.

🧾 Summary Table: How to Cite a Poem

Style	Where From	Citation Format Highlights
MLA	Book or website	Poet name, poem title in quotes, book/website title in italics
APA	Book	Poet’s name, date, poem title in italics, editor, page range
Chicago	Book	Full citation with city, publisher, and editor; footnote option

🧠 Quick Tips for Citing Poetry

Always include line numbers (if available) when quoting poems
Use quotation marks around poem titles in MLA and Chicago
Italicize book titles but not poem titles in APA
Double-check for punctuation and page numbers
If you’re quoting more than 3 lines, use a block quote format

📣 Final Thoughts: Cite Poetry With Confidence

Now that you know how to cite a poem in APA, MLA, and Chicago styles, you’re ready to use poetry in your essays without worrying about plagiarism or formatting errors. Just follow the rules, give credit, and let the poet’s voice shine through your work. ✨

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