Diwan (poetry)

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In Islamic cultures of the Middle East, North Africa, Sicily^[1] and South Asia, a Diwan (Persian: دیوان, divân, Arabic: ديوان, dīwān) is a collection of poems by one author, usually excluding his or her long poems (mathnawī).^[2]

The vast majority of Diwan poetry was lyric in nature: either ghazals or gazels (which make up the greatest part of the repertoire of the tradition), or kasîdes. There were, however, other common genres, most particularly the mesnevî, a kind of verse romance and thus a variety of narrative poetry; the two most notable examples of this form are the Layla and Majnun (ليلى و مجنون) of Fuzûlî and the Hüsn ü Aşk (حسن و عشق; "Beauty and Love") of Şeyh Gâlib.

Originating in Persian literature, the idea spread to the Arab and Turkish worlds, and South Asia, and the term was sometimes used in Europe, not always in the same way.