Ehsan Yarshater 
Persian Lyric Poetry in the Classical Era, 800-1500: Ghazals, Panegyrics and Quatrains [PDF ebook] 
A History of Persian Literature Vol. II

The second volume in this series presents the reader with an extensive study of some major genres of Persian poetry from the first centuries after the rise of Islam to the end of the Timurid era and the inauguration of Safavid rule in the beginning of the sixteenth century. The authors explore the development of poetic genres, from the panegyric (qaside), to short lyrical poems (ghazal), and the quatrains (roba”i), tracing the stylistic evolution of Persian poetry up to 1500 and examine the vital role of these poetic forms within the rich landscape of Persian literature.