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I'm editing a children's book which includes songs. I usually format the songs as a block quote in a slightly smaller type size and centred on the longest line. However, I've just come to a song that is part of a longer spoken speech. Do I put the end of quote marks at the end of the block quote or at the end of the normal speech before the block quote? Normally you don't put quote marks around a block quote as they are unnecessary but in this instance I'm not sure.

Example: enter image description here

Problem page:enter image description here

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  • I don't think it serves any purpose since the text is already so differentiated –– adding a closing quote would be following the letter, not the spirit of the use punctuation for clarity rule. I wouldn't switch. Keep it consistent throughout.
    – wetcircuit
    Jul 15, 2021 at 14:45
  • @wetcircuit would you put the end of speech mark after the introductory colon?
    – Daniel James Smith
    Jul 16, 2021 at 12:38
  • No, I wouldn't (assuming it's intended the song is said aloud by the character). The convention I see most when long spoken text is broken into paragraphs, is to use an opening quote on each new paragraph that continues, and no closing quote until the speech actually stops. In your example, with the text so differentiated, it does not look like the punctuation is part of the larger text, but opening or closing a smaller quote within the song itself. I find it confusing, since the punctuation is inside the song formatting, but punctuates text outside the song.
    – wetcircuit
    Jul 16, 2021 at 12:45

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