A BRIEF GUIDE TO QUOTING FROM THE TEXT
SOME BAD EXAMPLES:
1. The problem: quotation just appears in the middle
of a sentence and is not syntactically connected to it.
This
story, which is a digression within Beowulf, is about Danish vengeance and how it
wiped out an entire family. It was
inserted by the poet to show the senselessness of reciprocation, "...the Finnsburg episode springs from a Christian perception of
the insane futility of the primitive Germanic thirst for vengeance" (NA
22).
How to fix it
(a)
colon: It
was inserted by the poet to show the senselessness of reciprocation:
"...the Finnsburg episode springs from a
Christian perception of the insane futility of the primitive Germanic thirst
for vengeance" (NA 22).
(b)
division & attribution: It was inserted by the
poet to show the senselessness of reciprocation; as one critic writes,
"...the Finnsburg episode springs from a
Christian perception of the insane futility of the primitive Germanic thirst
for vengeance" (NA 22).
2. Same as above
For
instance, when Hrothgar's beloved Aeschere
is killed by Grendel's vengeful mother, "She has
avenged the feud," Beowulf is immediately asked to seek justice by Hrothgar, "I will give you wealth for the feud--if you
come away" (NA 45).
How to fix it
(a)
division/attribution: For instance, when Hrothgar's
beloved Aeschere is killed by Grendel's
vengeful mother, the poet states that "She has avenged the
feud." Beowulf is immediately asked
to seek justice by Hrothgar, who says,"I
will give you wealth for the feud--if you come away" (NA 45).
3. The problem: quotation appears between sentences,
attached to nothing.
There
were two ladies of the court that he took note of. One was fair of hair, flesh and face.
"And her body and her bearing were beyond praise" (line 944).
How to fix it
(a)
attachment (as long as the syntax is correct):
There were two ladies of the court that he took note of. One was fair of hair, flesh and face,
"And her body and her bearing were beyond praise" (line 944).
(b)
attribution: There were two ladies of the court
that he took note of. One was fair of hair, flesh and face. The poet comments that
"...her body and her bearing were beyond praise" (line 944).
4. The problem: bad syntax connecting your prose and
the quotation.
At
first Arthur accepts the challenge then Sir Gawain steps in says "I
beseech, before all here, / That this melee may be
mine" (ll. 341-42).
How to fix it:
fix the syntax
(a)
At first Arthur accepts the challenge then Sir Gawain steps in, saying "I
beseech, before all here, / That this melee may be
mine" (ll. 341-42).
(b) At first Arthur accepts the challenge then
Sir Gawain steps and says "I beseech, before all here, / That this melee may be mine" (ll. 341-42).
5. The problem: incomplete/incoherent quotation
He
then goes on to list the other poor men who have been taken advantage of by
tricky women. Gawain says, "...your
courteous wife...That have trapped their true knight in their trammels so
quaint...And through the wiles of a woman be wooed into sorrow" (ll.
2411-14).
How to fix it:
check to see that your quotation makes sense on its own and alter things
accordingly
(a)
He then goes on to list the other poor men who have been taken advantage of by
tricky women. Gawain says, "Commend
me to that comely one, your courteous wife / Both
herself and that other.../ That have trapped their true knight in their
trammels so quaint" (ll. 2411-13).
(b)
He then goes on to list the other poor men who have been taken advantage of by
tricky women. Gawain says, "But if
a dullard should dote, deem it no wonder, / And through the wiles of a woman be wooed into sorrow"
(ll. 2414-15).
SOME GOOD EXAMPLES:
After
the writer explains the physical appearance of the pentangle on Gawain's shield, he goes on to explain its meaning. He says, "It is a sign by Solomon sagely
devised / To be a token of truth..." (625-6),
strongly emphasizing that Gawain is also a bearer of truth.
[Here the writer
both attributes the quotation ("He says")
and analyzes it. Lack of analysis--which
can be a simple as paraphrase--undercuts the effectiveness of many aptly chosen
passages.]
A
few pages later, Grendel is said to "seek his
rabble of devils," to be "wearing God's anger," and to be
"at war with God" (Beowulf, pp. 36-7).
[Here the writer
quotes phrases--not entire sentences--and puts them all in parallel positions
governed by infinitives ("to seek", "to be", "to
be").]
Both
Beowulf and Wiglaf of the Geats
mention God. Wiglaf
does so when eulogizing Beowulf after the fight with the dragon. When he talks about Beowulf's final effort in
that fight Wiglaf says, "God, Ruler of
Victories, granted him to avenge himself" (64).
[Here the writer
attributes the quotation and establishes a full context for the passage quoted,
both with regard to the text of the essay (it's one
example of a character mentioning God) and with respect to the text of the poem
(it happens after the fight with the dragon).]
REMEMBER:
¨Always provide page numbers (for prose) or line
numbers (for poetry).
¨Always
place the final period at the end of the sentence when citing parenthetically:
"quotation from text"(page #).
¨If
a block quotation is a single speech, it does not need to be placed in quotation
marks--setting it off by indenting is sufficient.
¨Poetry
that appears in a block quotation should appear as it does in your text, line
by line--not with the lines run together.
¨If
you quote more than one line of poetry in the middle of your own prose, be sure
to indicate line divisions with slashes (see # 4 above).
¨Always
underline or italicize titles (especially when the name of the poem is the same
as a character's name, e.g. Beowulf)