smg10e_handbook6

P11 Slashes

Printed Page H-70

Use a slash to separate quoted lines of poetry and to separate word pairs that present options or opposites.

In “A Poison Tree,” William Blake gives the same advice: “I was angry with my friend: / I told my wrath, my wrath did end.”

Note: When you use a slash to show the lines in poetry, leave a space before and after the mark. If you quote four lines or more, omit the quotation marks and slashes and present the poetry line for line as a block quotation.