Avoiding confusion of the author with a narrator, speaker, or character

When introducing quotations from a literary work, make sure that you don’t confuse the work’s author with the narrator of a story, the speaker of a poem, or a character in a story or play. Instead of naming the author, you can refer to the narrator or speaker—or to the work itself.

INAPPROPRIATE

Poet Andrew Marvell describes his fear of death like this: “But at my back I always hear / Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near” (21-22).

APPROPRIATE

Addressing his beloved in an attempt to win her sexual favors, the speaker of the poem argues that death gives them no time to waste: “But at my back I always hear / Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near” (21-22).

APPROPRIATE

The poem “To His Coy Mistress” says as much about fleeting time and death as it does about sexual passion. Its most powerful lines may well be “But at my back I always hear / Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near” (21-22).

In the last example, you could of course mention the author as well: Marvell’s poem “To His Coy Mistress” says as much. . . . Although the author is mentioned, he is not being confused with the speaker of the poem.

Related topics:

Referring to literary authors, titles, and characters

Using the present tense to describe fictional events

Avoiding shifts in tense when integrating quotations