List the title within the text so that your reader understands which poem you are referring to. The titles of poems should be enclosed in quotation marks. For example:
In the poem "Great English Poem of Verse," the author...
Cite the last name of the author and the lines to which you are referring parenthetically within the text. This should appear directly after you quote from the source. For example:
In the poem "Great English Poem of Verse," the author compares "the great bloom of the sun / all done up in light" (Smith 19-20) to a "light-bitten rose" (Smith 24).
Omit the name of the author from your in-text citation if you have previously mentioned his name within the text. In this case, cite only the line numbers in parentheses. For example:
In the poem "Great English Poem of Verse," Smith compares "the great bloom of the sun / all done up in light" (19-20) to a "light-bitten rose" (24).
List the poem in your works-cited page according to the following template:
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Poem." Title of Book (in italics). Name of Editor. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.
For example:
Smith, Thomas. "Great English Poem of Verse." The Best English Poetry in the World. Ed. John Jones. London: Poems Press, 2004. Print.
If the book is not edited, simply omit the section for the editor's name. In this case, the citation would appear as follows:
Smith, Thomas. "Great English Poem of Verse." The Best English Poetry in the World. London: Poems Press, 2004. Print.