diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/HTML.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/HTML.hs
index e62a06b4f..08cd18ad0 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/HTML.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/HTML.hs
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ blockToHtml opts (CodeBlock (id',classes,keyvals) rawCode) = do
                         attrs = [theclass (unwords classes') | not (null classes')] ++
                                 [prefixedId opts id' | not (null id')] ++
                                 map (\(x,y) -> strAttr x y) keyvals
-                        addBird = if "literate" `elem` classes
+                        addBird = if "literate" `elem` classes'
                                      then unlines . map ("> " ++) . lines
                                      else unlines . lines
                     in  return $ pre ! attrs $ thecode <<