How to Quote Verse

When you use quotations in your response, make sure you quote verse properly.  Please also remember that the word "quote" is a verb and "quotation" is a noun.  If you quote one or two lines of verse in the body of your paragraph, indicate line endings with a slash (/); e.g., the opening lines of the Iliad:  "Rage--Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, / Murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses" (1.1-2).  If you quote three or more lines use a block quotation in which you indent .5 inches from the left and reproduce the lines exactly as the look in your source, preserving the line endings; e.g.:

        Rage--Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,

        murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,

        hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls,

        great fighters souls, but made their bodies carrion,

        feasts for the dogs and birds,

        and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end.

        Begin, Muse, when the two first broke and clashed,

        Agamemnon lord of men and brilliant Achilles.  (1.1-8)

Note that you don't need to use quotation marks in a block quotation, and you don't need to use slashes because you're indicating line endings by leaving them as actual line endings.  If your edition adds line numbers to the right of the verse, you don't need to reproduce this in your quotation--you'll be indicating it in your citation.  Note also that the block quotation is justified on the left--not centered.  Your block quotation should not look like this:

Rage--Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,

murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,

hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls,

great fighters souls, but made their bodies carrion,

feasts for the dogs and birds,

and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end.

Begin, Muse, when the two first broke and clashed,

Agamemnon lord of men and brilliant Achilles.  (1.1-8)

Verse is usually cited by line number rather than page number.  In long poems, cite quotations using Arabic numerals inside parentheses, and use a period (.) to separate the number for the larger division of the work (book, canto, chapter, etc.) from the line numbers.  E.g., Book 1, lines 1-8 of the Iliad would be cited as:  (1.1-8).  When citing plays, use Arabic numerals inside parentheses and use periods to separate act, scene, and line numbers; e.g., Act 2, scene 2, lines 56-89 would be cited as:  (2.2.56-89).  If the poem or play you are referring to is not clear from the context of your paper, include it in the citation; e.g.:  (Hamlet 2.2.56-89).

Remember that the titles of books, plays, and long poems should be italicized or underlined.  If you refer to a book, play, or long poem in a Blackboard discussion area, please place titles inside the appropriate HTML tags:  <i> </i> for italics, <u></u> for underlining.

Your Works Cited list should clearly indicate the edition or translation you're using; e.g.:

Homer.  The Iliad.  Trans. Robert Fagles.  New York:  Viking, 1990.

Shakespeare, William.  Hamlet.  Ed. Harold Jenkins.  Arden edition.  Second series.  London:  Thomson, 1986.