An Essay Assignment about Gilgamesh and The Iliad

Quoting from Poetic Texts (MLA Style)

When quoting from poetry, please keep in mind the following points. (Your essay, of course, will be double-spaced. The examples here are single-spaced for the sake of using less paper if you choose to print this handout.)

Always use a grammatical lead-in for quotes. In other words, do not simply juxtapose the period ending a complete sentence and a quote.

Incorrect

Gilgamesh rejects Ishtar. "The goddess Ishtar [heard] these words, / she [went up] to heaven in a furious rage" (Gilgamesh 50).

Correct

After Gilgamesh vehemently rejects her, the goddess Ishtar ascends to heaven: "The goddess Ishtar [heard] these words, / she [went up] to heaven in a furious rage" (Gilgamesh 50).

Correct

In The Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna about the connection between knowledge and action, saying, "When a man is unattached and free, / his reason deep in knowledge, / acting only in sacrifice, / his action is wholly dissolved" (52).

Always separate lines of quoted poetry with slashes. Also, maintain the spelling and punctuation of the original with the exception of the last mark of punctuation, which you should omit unless that mark is a question mark or an exclamation point. (Even if a question mark or an exclamation point is used, you still must put a period after the parenthetical citation).

Incorrect

In Gilgamesh, Enkidu's appearance exposes his lack of civilization: "All his body is matted with hair, he bears long tresses like those of a woman: the hair of his head grows thickly as barley, he knows not a people, nor even a country" (5).

Correct

In Gilgamesh, Enkidu's appearance exposes his lack of civilization: "All his body is matted with hair, / he bears long tresses like those of a woman: / the hair of his head grows thickly as barley, / he knows not a people, nor even a country" (5).

Correct

The women of Uruk complain to the goddesses about Gilgamesh's brutal treatment: "The women voiced] their [troubles to the goddesses,] / [they brought their] complaint before [them:] / '[Though powerful, pre-eminent,] expert [and mighty,] / [Gilgamesh] lets [no] girl go free to [her bridegroom]'" (3-4).

Note that with Gilgamesh you must maintain the original text's brackets and italicization!

If you would like to quote more than 50 or 60 words of poetry, block quote the section. In other words, indent two paragraph tabs from the left-hand margin and begin and end the quote without quote marks. Also, maintain the stanza structure of the poetry and do not use slashes.

Incorrect

In Book 1 of The Iliad, Agamemnon pitilessly rejects the offer of Apollo's priest, Chryses, to ransom his daughter:

"Don't let me ever catch you, old man, by these ships again, / Skulking around now or sneaking back later. / The god's staff and ribbons won't save you next time. / The girl is mine, and she'll be an old woman in Argos / Before I let her go, working the loom in my house / And coming to my bed, far from her homeland. / Now clear out of here before you make me angry" (Homer 2).

Correct

In Book 1 of The Iliad, Agamemnon pitilessly rejects the offer of Apollo's priest, Chryses, to ransom his daughter:

Don't let me ever catch you, old man, by these ships again,

Skulking around now or sneaking back later.

The god's staff and ribbons won't save you next time.

The girl is mine, and she'll be an old woman in Argos

Before I let her go, working the loom in my house

And coming to my bed, far from her homeland.

Now clear out of here before you make me angry. (Homer 2)

At the end of the block quote, a period (or the appropriate mark of punctuation from the original) goes after the last word of the quote, not after the parenthetical citation. This is a potentially confusing difference between regular quotes and block quotes.

Works Cited

The Bhagavad-Gita. Trans. Barbara Stoler Miller. New York: Bantam, 1986.

The Epic of Gilgamesh. Trans. Andrew George. London: Penguin, 2003.

Homer. The Iliad. Trans. Stanley Lombardo. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1997.