Anthology

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For other uses, see Anthology (disambiguation).

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In

book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors.[1]

In

short stories and short novels, by different authors, each featuring unrelated casts of characters and settings, and usually collected into a single volume for publication. Alternatively, it can also be a collection of selected writings (short stories, poems etc.) by one author.[2][3]

Complete collections of works are often called "

complete works" or "opera omnia" (Latin
equivalent).

Etymology

The word entered the English language in the 17th century, from the Greek word, ἀνθολογία (anthologic, literally "a collection of blossoms", from ἄνθος, ánthos, flower), a reference to one of the earliest known anthologies, the Garland (Στέφανος, stéphanos), the introduction to which compares each of its anthologized poets to a flower. That Garland by Meléagros of Gadara formed the kernel for what has become known as the Greek Anthology.

Florilegium, a Latin derivative for a collection of flowers, was used in medieval Europe for an anthology of Latin proverbs and textual excerpts. Shortly before anthology had entered the language, English had begun using florilegium as a word for such a collection.

Early anthologies

The Palatine Anthology, discovered in the Palatine Library, Heidelberg in 1606, is a collection of Greek poems and epigrams that was based on the lost 10th Century Byzantine collection of Constantinus Cephalas, which in turn was based on older anthologies. In The Middle Ages, European collections of florilegia became popular, bringing together extracts from various Christian and pagan philosophical texts. These evolved into commonplace books and miscellanies, including proverbs, quotes, letters, poems and prayers.[4]

Songes and Sonettes, usually called Tottel's Miscellany, was the first printed anthology of English poetry. It was published by Richard Tottel in 1557 in London and ran to many editions in the sixteenth century.[5] A widely read series of political anthologies, Poems on Affairs of State, began its publishing run in 1689, finishing in 1707.[6]

In Britain, one of the earliest national poetry anthologies to appear was The British Muse (1738), compiled by

Oxford Book of English Verse (1900).[6]

Traditional

In

poetic form. It was assumed that there was a cyclic development: any particular form, say the tanka in Japan
, would be introduced at one point in history, be explored by masters during a subsequent time, and finally be subject to popularisation (and a certain dilution) when it achieved widespread recognition. In this model, which derives from Chinese tradition, the object of compiling an anthology was to preserve the best of a form, and cull the rest.

In Malaysia, an anthology (or antologi in Malay) is a collection of syair, sajak (or modern prose), proses, drama scripts, and pantuns. Notable anthologies that are used in secondary schools include Sehijau Warna Daun, Seuntai Kata Untuk Dirasa, Anak Bumi Tercinta, Anak Laut and Kerusi.[7]

Twentieth century

In the twentieth century, anthologies became an important part of poetry publishing for a number of reasons. For

Georgian poetry series [8] was trend-setting; it showed the potential success of publishing an identifiable group of younger poets marked out as a 'generation'. It was followed by numerous collections from the 'stable' of some literary editor, or collated from a given publication, or labelled in some fashion as 'poems of the year'. Academic publishing also followed suit, with the continuing success of the Quiller-Couch Oxford Book of English Verse encouraging other collections not limited to modern poetry.[9] Not everyone approved. Robert Graves and Laura Riding published their Pamphlet Against Anthologies in 1928, arguing that they were based on commercial rather than artistic interests.[6]

The concept of 'modern verse' was fostered by the appearance of the phrase in titles such as the

Oxford Book of Modern Verse of the same year.[11] In the 1960s The Mersey Sound anthology of Liverpool poets
became a bestseller, plugging into the countercultural attitudes of teenagers.

Since publishers generally found anthology publication a more flexible medium than the collection of a single poet's work, and indeed rang innumerable changes on the idea as a way of marketing poetry, publication in an anthology (in the right company) became at times a sought-after form of recognition for poets. The self-definition of movements, dating back at least to Ezra Pound's efforts on behalf of Imagism, could be linked on one front to the production of an anthology of the like-minded.

Also, whilst not connected with poetry, publishers have produced collective works of fiction an non-fiction from a number of authors and used the term anthology to describe the collective nature of the text. These have been in a number of subjects, including Erotica, edited by Mitzi Szereto, and American Gothic Tales edited by Joyce Carol Oates. The Assassin's Cloak: An Anthology of the World's Greatest Diarists, published in 2000, anthologises four centuries of diary entries into 365 'days'.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Wood County native part of poetry anthology".
  2. ^ Lim, Samantha (31 December 2019). "Telltale Food, Malaysia's First Food Anthology". Malaysia Tatler. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  3. ^ Genzlinger, Neil (12 August 2019). "Lee Bennett Hopkins, Champion of Poetry for Children, Dies at 81". The New York Times.
  4. S2CID 143219877
    .
  5. ^ 'Tottel, Richard', in The Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900
  6. ^ a b c Clare Bucknell. The Treasuries: Poetry Anthologies and the Making of British Culture (2023)
  7. ^ William Katz and others. The Columbia Granger's Guide to Poetry Anthologies, 2nd, edition 1994
  8. ^ James Bridges (Independent Scholar) (31 July 2002). "Bridges, James. Georgian Poetry. The Literary Encyclopedia. 31 July 2002". Litencyc.com. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  9. ^ "Quiller-Couch, Arthur, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250 – 1900". Bartleby.com. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
  10. ^ Faber Anthologies Archived February 6, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ "Fantastic Fiction – Oxford Book of Modern Verse". Archived from the original on 4 November 2014.
  12. ^ The Assassin's Cloak, reviewed in The Guardian, 12 November 2000

External links

Media related to Anthologies at Wikimedia Commons

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