[1] Waṣf was one of four kinds of poetry in which medieval Arabic poets were expected to be competent, alongside 'the boast (fakhr), the invective (hijaa’), and the elegy (marthiya)'.
[2] Probably deriving from the descriptions of the abandoned campsite and beloved in the ancient qasida's erotic prelude, and of animals and landscape in the journey section, or rahiil, it evolved into a genre of its own in Abbasid Baghdad and later in Spain.
The tradition in Arabic was highly developed, with poets often devoting entire collections to elaborate treatments of single subjects, such as hunting animals, kinds of flowers, and specific objects.
[2] In waṣf love poems, each part of a lover's body is described and praised in turn, often using exotic, extravagant, or even far-fetched metaphors.
This genre had a long history and later became a favorite of the troubadour poets and the authors of sonnets in the Elizabethan era.