Poetry genres

1) Love lyrics

2) Socio-political Lyrics.

The main types of lyric in writing literature are as follows: ghazal, odes (qasida), qita, quatrain (rubai), tuyuq, murabbe, mukhammas, takhmis, musaddas.

Ghazal. It is considered the kind of classic literature. Gazelles are more dedicated to love. N. Ganjavi, M. Fuzuli, İ. Nasimi, S. Shirvani, etc. created the most beautiful examples of gazelles.

Qasida(Odes). Compared to ghazal qasida consists of at least 15 distiches, i.e. 30 hemistiches. Qasida is written in solemn, flamboyant style. Qasida as a rule expresses the public problems. For its content and subject qasida has minajat, nat, madhiyya, fakhriyya etc types.

Minajat. In this type of qasida Allah is praised and the poet asks help from him 

Net. The might of Prophet and his holiness is praised.

Madhiyya(Panegyric) In madhiyya the rulers or other high ranked people is praised.

Fakhriyya. In this genre poet narrate about his might and proudly speaks about himself.

The most perfect examples of the qasida and its types in Azerbaijani literature were created by Kh. Shirvani, M. Fuzuli, S. Shirvani, M.A. Sabir, etc.

Qita. It is an Arabic word and means part, section. According to structure qita looks like ghazal. But qita has more socio-political, moral and educational content. Works of G. Burhaneddin, İ. Nasimi, M. Fuzuli, etc. are in this genre.

Rubai. It is poem genre in total, consisting of four hemistiches and having more social, philosophical content. Ruba is written in hajaz bahr of aruz rhythm. When we say rubai, as a rule, we recall the great eastern classic poet Omar Khayyam (X century). In Azerbaijani literary history Mehseti Ganjavi is recognized as an outstanding representative of rubai. 

Tuyuq. A genre specific to literature of Turkic people. Tuyuq in Turkic means feel, feeling. In total, consisting of four hemistiches, and having wise content, the rhyme system of tuyuq is likewise in rubai. Compared to rubai, tuyuq is written in ramal bahr of Aruz. Tuyuq is connected with the name of G. Burhaneddin in Azerbaijani literature.

Murabbe. Murabbe in Arabic means four. In murabbe, each section consists of four hemistiches, in 1st couplet of murabbe all hemistiches are rhymed and rhyme structure of   remaining items is same as in qoshma: aaaa, bbba, ccca.

Mukhammas. Means in Arabic five. Each couplet of mukhammas consists of five hemistiches.  Mukhammas passed to minstrel literature from written literature. Poems of M. P. Vagif I did not see and G. Zakir’s, Does are perfect examples of mukhammas.

Takhmis. Takhmis is same of mukhammas for the number of hemistiches in couplet, for structure of rhymes. In fact, takshmis is a type of mukhammas. The characteristic feature is that, the last two distich in each couplet of tahkmis (4-5th hemistiches) is taken from any ghazal of other poet. Takhmis written by Fuzuli on the basis of ghazals of Habibi is very famous.

Musaddas. The meaning of the word is six.  It is genre of poetry having the six-hemistich in each couplet. It consists of 6-10 coupletrs. Its rhyme structure is mainly, is: aaaaaa, bbbbaa, ccccaa. M. A. Sabir’s Sattarkhan poem is the best sample of musaddas in Azerbaijani literature.

In oral literature its main lyric types are: qoshma, tajnis, garayly. 

Qoshma. The genre of ashuq poetry consisting of four hemistiches per couplet and eleven syllables per one hemistich is called qoshma. Qoshma passed from ashuq poetry to written literature, and our poets like M.V.Vidadi, M.P.Vagif, G. Zakir, S. Vurgun, S. Rustram, M. Rahim, H. Arif, B. Vahabzade and a number of other poets wrote in this genre. There are four main types of qoshma on content:

1. Gozallama- beatification

2. Ustadname - Masterpiece in literature

3. Qifilband

4. Vujudname

Gozelleme is qoshma dedicated to the beauty of beautiful girls.

Ustadname is instructive qoshma having an aim of teaching.

Qifilband is puzzle kind qoshma. Sometimes it is called baghlama and mostly used by ashuq during musical debates

Vucudname is goshma reflecting the nature of human characteristics at different ages.

Garayli. The sample of Ashuq poem consisting of 3-5 couplets, four hemistiches per couplet and eight syllables per hemistich.  Rhyme structure of garayli is as follows: First couplet: abcb. Next couplets: cccb, dddb.

Tajnis. In most cases it has similarity with qoshma, but compared to latter its rhymes based on jinas words (i.e, having the same appearance but different meaning). There are different types of tajnis in form: dodaqdaymaz tajnis, tajnis with leg (or mustazad tajnis), disputed  tajnis