List of Genre Types

The term is here used to refer to the collected works of a poet. It is not an anthology, it is composed of the poems of a single poet. It is not compiled by someone else but by the poet him/herself. As it has certain requirements in terms of form and content, it takes a long time for a poet to compile a dîvân. To have a dîvân is a symbol of prestige and honor among poets. A collection of miscellaneous text excerpts, e.g. poems, lyrics, etc.; compiled by an individual, based on the taste of the owner. The beyt consists of two half-lines, is most likely the smallest unit of poetic expression, and must be grammatically and semantically complete. [...] Thus, a beyt could be extracted from a larger unit (c) and would be indistinguishable from a complete beyt length poem (a). [...] there is no requirement or tradition in Western poetry necessitating that distichs or couplets-or even stanzas in many cases-be complete self-contained units; poems made up of potentially complete couplet-length units do not even occur by chance with any frequency. It is difficult, therefore, to compare the beyt with any poetic sub-unit commonly used in Western poetry(Andrews 1976, 132-136). The gazel is a poem of from 5 to 15 beyts [couplets] (…) The gazel is a fully developed form, in that it determines the size, format and strategy of the poem (Andrews 1976, 136). The kasîde is usually an encomiastic, a praise poem, and it is commonly stated that the poem is called a kasîde because it has a purpose (maksad) - that is, to praise someone in power, to praise God, to praise oneself, to gain favor or plead for a favor, etc. (Andrews 1976, 146). Kıta (piece) is a poetic form in Ottoman literature. It consists of two couplets. The poet generally does not use his/her pen name in kıta. In kıta, there is a thematic unity and the lines complete each other semantically, a feature which is not observed in gazels for instance (Dilçin 2019, 202). Walter G. Andrews defines kıta as one of the least-studied and least-understood forms in Ottoman poetry (1976, 170). It is a compound form created by adding a short line with the rhythmic pattern >mefʿūlü feʿūlün to each mısraʿ of a gazel having the rhythm [mefʿūlü mefāʿīlü faʿūlün] (Andrews 1976, 170). It is a quatrain, a poem of four lines or two beyts which rhyme on the basic monorhyme pattern. […] It is generally thought by modern scholars to be of pre-Islamic Persian origin (Andrews 1976, 167). It is a poem written to praise either a living sultan, statesman etc. or prophet, caliphs etc. It is written in kasîde form. It is a poem to express sorrow or lamentation for one who is dead. It is generally written in terkîb-i bend form. However, there are rare mersiye samples in Ottoman poetry, which are in tercî-i bend form. Both are stanza forms in Ottoman poetry and more information can be found in Andrews 1976, 162-163. It is a kasîde written in honor or praise of the Prophet. It is a poem written to resemble another poem in form and subject; an imitative piece of poetry