Capitalizing and Formatting the Titles of Poems

The entire title of a short-form work like a poem should be in quotes, not italicized.

Example

“Mary Had a Little Lamb” is the strangest poem Donovan has ever read.

Follow these steps to capitalize the title of a poem:

  1. Capitalize the first word and last word of the title
  2. Capitalize all “in-between words” except for the following:
FANBOYS (conjunctions)
for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so
Prepositions
of, in, on, at, to, as, by, with
Articles
a, an, the
Examples

Bronwyn memorized the poem “The House on the Hill” and read it to her classmates.


Lonny thinks he could write a poem as good as “Fire and Ice.”