Diwan (poetry)

[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.

From the Persian poetry that largely inspired it, it inherited a wealth of symbols whose meanings and interrelationships—both of similitude (مراعات نظير mura'ât-i nazîr / تناسب tenâsüb) and opposition (تضاد tezâd)—were more or less prescribed.

Examples of prevalent symbols that, to some extent, oppose one another include, among others: As the opposition of "the ascetic" and "the darvish" suggests, Divan poetry—much like Turkish folk poetry—was heavily influenced by Sufi thought.

A brief example is the following line of verse, or mısra (مصراع), by the 18th-century judge and poet Hayatî Efendi: Here, the nightingale is only implied (as being the poet/lover), while the rose, or beloved, is shown to be capable of inflicting pain with its thorns (خار hâr).

As for the development of Divan poetry over the more than 500 years of its existence, that is—as the Ottomanist Walter G. Andrews points out—a study still in its infancy;[6] clearly defined movements and periods have not yet been decided upon.