Pakistan has a rich and diverse tradition of poetry that includes Urdu poetry, English poetry, Sindhi poetry, Pashto poetry, Punjabi poetry, Saraiki poetry, Baluchi poetry, and Kashmiri poetry. Sufi poetry has a strong tradition in Pakistan and the poetry of popular Sufi poets is often recited and sung.
Persian poetry is still common in Pakistan as a literary vehicle because of the centuries of Persian influence on the region. Many sufi poets wrote their Kalam in Persian. Pakistan's national poet Allama Mohammad Iqbal also wrote many volumes of poetry in Persian.
Poetry is widely read across Pakistan. Gatherings for the recitations of poetry known as Mushaira frequently take place. Verses of popular poets are also used as political slogans by political activists. The national poet of Pakistan is Muhammad Iqbal.
Famous quotes containing the word poetry:
“Indeed, the best books have a use, like sticks and stones, which is above or beside their design, not anticipated in the preface, not concluded in the appendix. Even Virgil’s poetry serves a very different use to me today from what it did to his contemporaries. It has often an acquired and accidental value merely, proving that man is still man in the world.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)