How to Cite "The Charge of the Light Brigade" in MLA

Proper citation of your sources is important.

"Half a league half a league, half a league onward" run the first lines of one of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's most famous poems, "The Charge of the Light Brigade." Written in 1854 to commemorate the Battle of Balaclava, the poem continues to be analyzed and quoted by English students today. When writing a scholarly paper, citing the sources you use is important. Citing poems in MLA format is a little tricky, but careful analysis of the guidelines will give you the help you need.

Things You'll Need

• Computer with internet access
• MLA guidelines
• Book with poem

Instructions

1. Take care with in-text citations. Start with an open parnethesis ((). If this is the first time you use Tennyson's name in the paragraph, his name goes next; if it isn't, leave his name out. If you haven't used "The Charge of the Light Brigade" in the preceeding phrase, the poem name comes next; if you have, leave the name out. For all poetry, instead of listing a page number, use the line number you're quoting or referring to. End the in-text citation with a closing parenthesis ()). Example: (Tennyson, "The Charge of the Light Brigade," 13)

2. Add your book source to the Works Cited section. At the end of your paper you will provide a Works Cited section, which gives more information about the sources you used in your research. If the version of "The Charge of the Light Brigade" you referenced came from a book, start with Tennyson's name, period, the poem name in quotations and another period. This is followed by the book title in italics and another period, the book's editors, if any, then the publication information including edition, comma, volume, comma, city, colon, publisher, comma , and year, period, in that order.

3. Cite online sources. If you found a copy of Tennyson's poem online or are using online commentary to discuss the poem, you must cite that as well. Your in-text citation will remain the same, but in Works Cited you start with the author, period, title of website in quotations, period, then include the date you accessed the web site, stated as day, month, year (11, Jan. 2011), and the URL. As with the book citation, the first line is flush against your margin and all subsequent lines are indented five spaces.

References

• The Charge Of The Light Brigade
• In-Text Citation in MLA Style
• Citing Selections from Books in MLA Style
• Citing Internet Sources in MLA Style