Garland of the Ancients is an anthology of the finest translations of poems selected from the Greek Anthology. The title takes its name from the original anthology, simply entitled Garland, by Meleagros in approximately 100 BCE, and so-called because he wove together those poems which represented the highest poetic achievements in the Hellenistic world. Later anthologists added additional poems, until the Greek Anthology had gathered together much of the best epigrammatic poetry written in the Mediterranean world from approximately 700 BCE to 700 CE.

This new anthology, published in a limited edition, contains the work of such excellent translators and poets as Willis Barnstone, Mary Barnard, Sam Hamill, Kenneth Rexroth, Richard Lattimore, Brooks Haxton, Sherod Santos, and George Economou, as well as numerous British translators whose work was included in Peter Jay's seminal Oxford anthology.

Each poem is annotated with a reference to both the ancient poet and the contemporary translator. Concise and accessible notes are included on both the poets and the poems, along with an Introduction on the history of the Greek Anthology and how it is a significant part of our literary tradition—something absolutely essential for any poet, any student of the classics, and anyone who finds critical value in the humanities.

“The great poems of The Greek Anthology underwrite a long tradition of epigrammatic verse, poems honoring with incisive pithiness the contradictory vitality of being human. One strand of influence touches modern Imagism in poets as various as Edgar Lee Masters and Ezra Pound. Another invigorates the work of energetic autodidacts like Kenneth Rexroth. What Robert Baldwin offers us in Garland from the Ancients is not the single vision of a single poet translator, but a kaleidoscopic set of responses to these marvelous poems. Here we have key voices of Lesbos, Alkaios and Sappho, holding forth with other Greeks from Archilochus to Bion, a veritable symposium of voices. We also have a useful survey of the short poem from Classical to Hellenistic and Roman times, colorfully annotated with meditations on translation itself. Sappho knew that “someone in / some future time / will think of us,” and these ancient voices cross time, speaking to us more directly than we might imagine is possible. A work of inspiration, Garland from the Ancients may prove one of the most useful poetic texts now available.” —David Mason

Order by email, with payment due upon receipt, or by sending $20, payable to the author, at 2560 Danbury Lane, Highlands Ranch, CO 80126.