Mythology
Delahoyde

MLA-Style Documentation
for Classical Mythology

 MLA-style documentation of your primary source sometimes features author and page parenthetically, but may feature chapter and verse (as with the Bible) or book and line numbers (as with The Iliad): "Zeus knows, no doubt, and every immortal too, / which fighter is doomed to end all this in death" (3.364-365). Note that book titles are italicized or underlined, that line breaks are indicated with slashes, and that the quotation's final punctuation is cut off since the sentence is not yet done (necessary material remains). Note also that we speak of events in literature (and film) in the present tense.

When providing quotations running four lines or longer, use block quotation format: instead of adding quotation marks, double indent (to distinguish from normal paragraph indentation) and note the end puncutation (irrationally different from linear).

If only strife could die from the lives of gods and men
and anger that drives the sanest man to flare in outrage­­
bitter gall, sweeter than dripping streams of honey,
that swarms in peoplešs chests and blinds like smoke­­
just like the anger Agamemnon king of men
has roused within me now.... (18.126-131)
Offer parenthetical citations (just author and page) for quoted, summarized, or paraphrased material from sources. For example, Hera functions as a wicked step-mother, harassing the illegitimate offspring of Zeus' lovers and rape victims (Pomeroy 8). Note proper punctuation in direct quoting: "Consumption appears to be the final stage of male sexual desire. Zeus verbally seduces Metis in order to devour her" (Adams 49) -- no comma, no pg., no pgs, nothing but a space between author and page! Interested readers can easily retrieve full bibliographical information by referring to your alphabetized list of works at the end of the paper. The following list shows correct format for books, articles, television shows, films, primary sources contained inside edited anthologies, works by two authors, and mostly actual resources for various types of research relevant for our class.

Works Cited

"The Aegean." Lost Civilizations. Narr. Sam Waterston. Time-Life Productions. NBC. KHQ, Spokane. 2 July 1995.

Campbell, Joseph. The Masks of God: Occidental Mythology. NY: Penguin Books, 1964.

---, with Bill Moyers. The Power of Myth. NY: Doubleday, 1988.

Delahoyde, Michael. "Medieval Dragons and Dinosaur Films." Popular Culture Review 9.1 (February 1998): 17-30.

Genesis. In The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, Vol. I. NY: W.W. Norton and Co., 1985. 18­21.

Grant, Michael. Myths of the Greeks and Romans. NY: Penguin Books, 1962.

Homer. The Iliad. Trans. Robert Fagles. NY: Penguin Books, 1990.

Hughes, Collin. Mythopoeia. http://www.wsu.edu/~hughesc (12 Sept. 2000).

Momaday, N. Scott. The Way to Rainy Mountain. University of New Mexico Press, 1969.

Morford, Mark P.O., and Robert J. Lenardon. Classical Mythology. 4th ed. NY: Longman, 1991.

The New English Bible. NY: Oxford University Press, 1972.

"The Odyssey of Troy." Ancient Mysteries. Narr. Kathleen Turner. Multimedia Entertainment Inc., 1995. 50 min.

Ovid. Metamorphoses. Trans. Rolfe Humphries. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1961.

Pomeroy, Sarah B. Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity. NY: Schocken Books, 1995.

Powell, Barry B. Classical Myth. http://www.prenhall.com/powell (3 Oct. 2000).

"The Popul Vuh." In Writing About the World. 2nd. ed. by Susan Mc Leod et al. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace and Co., 1995. 491­494.

"Remains of ancient war discovered in Troy, Idaho." Seattle Times 3 July 2000: B4-5.

Sappho. "To Aphrodite." In Women's Life in Greece and Rome: A Source Book in Translation. Ed. Mary R. Lefkowitz and Maureen B. Fant. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992. 2.

Virgil. The Aeneid. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, Volume I. 6th ed. NY: W.W. Norton and Co., 1992. 844-917.

Orpheus