Anthology - Academic Mode

Definition of anthology
The term anthology comes from a Greek word, anthologia, which means "collection of flowers." An anthology is a compilation of literary works such as poems, plays, short stories, excerpts, including television shows, dramas, movies, and songs. There are different categories of anthologies like comic book anthologies, essay collections, fiction anthologies, poetry anthologies, anthologies.

Examples of Anthologies in Literature
Example # 1: The Garden Party and Other Stories (by Katherine Mansfield)
Mansfield published his collection, "The Garden Party and Other Stories," in 1922, just one year before his death from tuberculosis. She was a pioneering modernist writer, who grew up in New Zealand and later moved to England, where she became friends with Virginia Woolf and D. Lawrence. The title story is one of Mansfield's best-known works, which she wrote in the modernist style, using a simple backdrop of a family making preparations for a beautiful garden party. Mansfield, in this setting, has brilliantly woven meditations on life, class, illusion, reality, and death. This is perhaps the first collection of short stories published by an English writer, who included herself in her own anthology.

Example # 2: The Collected Stories (by Lorrie Moore)
Lorrie Moore's "The Collected Stories" is a beautiful collection of stories that allows readers to immerse themselves in and out of the writer's experience of observing human behavior. Famous for her sharp humor and ironic tone. Moore writes about family dynamics, infidelity, and terminal illness. However, the way she smoothly switches from topic to topic makes this anthology popular. The most popular story in this volume is, "How to be another woman." The book is counted as an excellent anthology of its time.

Example # 3: The Faerie Queens (by David Rankine)
“The Faerie Queens” is another outstanding anthology of essays exploring magic, myths and mythology in ancient times. mysterious, supernatural and powerful, which has spread its magic throughout Europe for centuries, captivating those who have read the essays. In fact, Rankine has given his readers critical reviews of myths, mythologies, legends, and epic figures.

Example 4: 100 best love poems (by Philip Smith)
“100 best love poems” is a popular collection of poems in the English language. The works are compiled not only for their popularity but also for their literary quality. From the Middle Ages to the 20th century, these poems remain all-time favorites and have the ability to captivate and engage readers' minds and keep their mood fresh.

Example 5: Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Conversations (by Arthur F.Kinny)
“An Anthology of Plays and Conversations” is a groundbreaking collection of non-Shakespearean Renaissance dramas. It includes a whole range of dramatic performances such as court masks and state balls. This second edition of the anthology includes pageants and plays that have not been anthologized anywhere else, including plays about the coronation of Queen Anne and Elizabeth I, and "A Woman Who Was Killed With Kindness" by Thomas Heywood. Mr.Kinny has added additional material including “The Second Shepherd's Game”, “Noah”, “The Tragedy of Antony”, “The Discontented One” and “The Queen's Mask”.

Function
Perhaps the greatest function of an anthology is to give readers an insight into places, experiences and people they would not otherwise experience. This is done by joining stories, poems and plays, by their themes, characters and places. The successful editor puts pieces together to make sense, not just as individual works, but as a coherent complete unit, which might otherwise be Readers can simply pull an anthology off the shelf and get lost in a story or poem that reflects their feelings.

Another important function of an anthology is to prevent readers from becoming bored or related to a particular topic or item. , explore different types of worlds and feelings, in a variety of stories and poems, all of which are linked by a single theme.Another function of anthologies is to allow students to easily find the best pieces, gathered according to the times, the reviews , critical theories, scenarios and plots.