How to Punctuate the Name of a Poem

Poem title punctuation follows three standard rules.

Whether you are writing an analytical essay or referencing a poem on your blog, proper punctuation adds credibility to your overall work. Because the length of a poem varies, the punctuation rules for titles are different from most literary forms. In fact, there are three different punctuation rules for the name of a poem.

Instructions

1. Italicize the titles of long poems. An example of an italicized poem title would be The Odyssey because it is a book-length poem. If your word processor program does not have an italics option or you are writing by hand, underline long poem titles.

2. Place a short poem title in quotation marks. An example would be "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe. The best test of length for determining a short poem title is whether the poem appears in a larger volume of works.

3. Leave the poem's title not italicized if it is within the title of another work. For instance, Preface to the Odyssey.

References

• The Keables Guide: Titles, End Punctuation, Dashes, Parentheses