In most disciplines, a long quotation from prose is set off from the text of the paper by indenting; more than a few lines of poetry are also set off by indenting. (Set-off quotations are referred to as block quotations.) Quotation marks are not required because the indented format tells readers that the quotation is taken word-for-word from a source. Long quotations and set-off lines of poetry are ordinarily introduced by a complete sentence ending with a colon.
After studying the historical record, James Horan evaluates Billy the Kid like this:
The portrait that emerges of [the Kid] from the thousands of pages of affidavits, reports, trial transcripts, his letters, and his testimony is neither the mythical Robin Hood nor the stereotyped adenoidal moron and pathological killer. Rather Billy appears as a disturbed, lonely young man, honest, loyal to his friends, dedicated to his beliefs, and betrayed by our institutions and the corrupt, ambitious, and compromising politicians of his time. (158)
Emily Dickinson relied heavily on dashes, using them, perhaps, as a musical device. Here, for example, is the original version of the opening stanza from “The Snake”:
A narrow Fellow in the Grass
Occasionally rides—
You may have met Him—did you not
His notice sudden is—
Different disciplines have different conventions for setting off indented quotations.
Exercise: Quotation marks 1
Exercise: Quotation marks 2
Related topics:
Long quotations in MLA style
Long quotations in APA style
Long quotations in Chicago (CMS) style