wikiHow Template to Quote and Cite a Poem in MLA Format Quote: To quote a play in an essay using MLA format, follow these steps: 1. Include the author and title of the play in your introduction. 2. Use quotation marks around the dialogue you want to quote. 3. Provide the act, scene, and line numbers, separated by periods and placed within parentheses after the quoted dialogue. Example: In "Romeo and Juliet," Shakespeare wrote, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet" (II.2.43-44). Note: When quoting more than 3 lines of verse or 3 lines of prose, use block quote format. Start a new line and indent the entire quotation one inch from the left margin. Do not use quotation marks for block quotes. Cite: In-text citation: (Author's Last name Line Numbers) Example: (Shelley 1-2) Works Cited entry: Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Poem." Title of Collection, Publication information, Publisher, Year of publication, Page Numbers. Example: Shelley, Percy Bysshe. "Ode to the West Wind." The Norton Anthology of English Literature, edited by M.H. Abrams, W.W. Norton & Company, 2000, pp. 1720-1722. Note: When quoting a poem in MLA format, the in-text citation should include the author's last name and the line numbers of the quoted text in parentheses. In the Works Cited entry, list the author's name, the title of the poem in quotation marks, the title of the collection it appeared in, the publication information, the publisher, and the year of publication. If you're citing a specific edition of the collection, include the page numbers for the poem. Page