Another aspect to consider when writing about literature is getting your quotations correct. When incorporating quotations from poems into your writing, you must keep the lines exactly as the poet has set them down. Remember, this is what a quotation is: an exact reproduction of the original writing. Take, for example, this quotation from Pope:
What dire Offence from am’rous Causes springs,
What mighty Contests rise from trivial Things,
These first two lines of the famous mock epic The Rape of the Lock are quoted correctly. Notice that they are blockquoted; i.e., indented an inch to the right of the left margin. Notice, too, that the original line breaks are maintained. This is the correct way to quote verse, not: “What dire Offence from am’rous Causes springs, What mighty Contests rise from trivial Things.”
Also, to cite the lines correctly in this class, you should give line numbers following the quotation in parentheses. For example,
What dire Offence from am’rous Causes springs,
What mighty Contests rise from trivial Things, (ll. 1-2)
Correct MLA format calls for page numbers; however, when the primary text is understood, all you need are line numbers. The parenthetical citation will make this easy and convenient, and this method will not interrupt your prose with unnecessary and clumsy phrases like “In lines 1 through 2 of . . .”
When quoting verses from dramas, like Tartuffe or Faust, you could also provide act and scene in your citation. For example, in this quotation, Tartuffe speaks to Elmire:
Now, if you’re still concerned, know Heaven winks,
At carnal joys known quietly in private.
Decorum is the way one will survive it.
It’s whiff of scandal, draws out Heaven’s wrath,
And silent sin still sticks to Heaven’s path. (4.4.151-155)
The citation makes it clear that this quotation is taken from act four, scene four, lines 151-155.
When quoting, remember two rules: one, be precise and exact, and two, help your reader find it easily in the text.
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