: Re: Having a character quote an entire stanza of a poem I am working on a long form fiction item. In this one of the characters will quote the first stanza from a poem. Normally with speech,

@Debbie451

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Format it the same way, with blockquote indents, and if you can add a little dialogue before and after, you don't have to worry about weird quote mark placement.

Bilbo stood and cleared his throat.

"I have a new poem for you all," he announced. "It goes thus:

    All that is gold does not glitter,
    Not all those who wander are lost;
    The old that is strong does not wither,
    Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
    From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
    A light from the shadows shall spring;
    Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
    The crownless again shall be king.

And that, of course, is for our dear Estel." The hobbit bowed in the direction of the ranger, who lifted his pipe in acknowledgement of the song.

If it's not too long you can also put the poem in italics, but I wouldn't do that for more than a dozen lines.

If you can't add extra dialogue, then just open and close the quotes at the beginning and end of the poem (in this example, "All" and "king").

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