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. There are also thematic and genre-based anthologies.Chris Baldrick
''The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms''
3rd. ed (2008) Complete collections of works are often called " complete works" or "" (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

equivalent).

Etymology

The word entered the English language in the 17th century, from the Greek word, ἀνθολογία (''anthologic'', literally "a collection of blossoms", from , ''ánthos'', flower), a reference to one of the earliest known anthologies, the ''Garland'' (, ''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 The ''Greek Anthology'' () is a collection of poems, mostly epigrams, that span the Classical Greece, Classical and Byzantine periods of Greek literature. Most of the material of the ''Greek Anthology'' comes from two manuscripts, the ''Palatine ...

. '' 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. '' 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. A widely read series of political anthologies, ''Poems on Affairs of State'', began its publishing run in 1689, finishing in 1707.Clare Bucknell. ''The Treasuries: Poetry Anthologies and the Making of British Culture'' (2023) In Britain, one of the earliest national poetry anthologies to appear was ''The British Muse'' (1738), compiled by William Oldys. Thomas Percy's influential '' Reliques of Ancient English Poetry'' (1765), was the first of the great ballad collections, responsible for the ballad revival in English poetry that became a significant part of the Romantic movement. William Enfield's ''The Speaker; Or, Miscellaneous Pieces'' was published in 1774 and was a mainstay of 18th Century schoolrooms. Important nineteenth century anthologies included Palgrave's '' Golden Treasury'' (1861), Edward Arber's ''Shakespeare Anthology'' (1899) and the first edition of Arthur Quiller Couch's Oxford Book of English Verse (1900).

Traditional

In East Asian tradition, an anthology was a recognized form of compilation of a given poetic form. It was assumed that there was a cyclic development: any particular form, say the '' tanka'' in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, 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 Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, an anthology (or ''antologi'' in Malay) is a collection of ''syair'', ''sajak'' (or modern prose),

prose Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

scripts, and pantuns. Notable anthologies that are used in

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

s include ''Sehijau Warna Daun'', ''Seuntai Kata Untuk Dirasa'', ''Anak Bumi Tercinta'', ''Anak Laut'' and ''Kerusi''.

Twentieth century

In the twentieth century, anthologies became an important part of poetry publishing for a number of reasons. For English poetry, the Georgian poetry series 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. 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. The concept of 'modern verse' was fostered by the appearance of the phrase in titles such as the Faber & Faber anthology by Michael Roberts in 1936, and the very different

William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th century in literature, 20th-century literature. He was ...

Oxford Book of Modern Verse of the same year. 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 Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an List of poets from the United States, American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Ita ...

'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 and 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 Mitzi Szereto is an American-British author of multi-genre fiction and nonfiction. She has written novels and short stories, and edited fiction and nonfiction anthologies, including her popular true crime franchise "The Best New True Crime Stori ...

, and '' American Gothic Tales'' edited by

Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels ''Black ...

. ''The Assassin's Cloak: An Anthology of the World's Greatest Diarists'', published in 2000, anthologises four centuries of diary entries into 365 'days'.''The Assassin's Cloak'', reviewed in ''The Guardian'', 12 November 2000
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