Emerging at the beginning of the 11th century in classical Persian literature, epic poetry has maintained its position in the narrative literature untill the end of the 15th century. This paper discusses romance poems, focusing on "Khusrau u Shīrīn" by Ilyās b. Yūsuf Niẓāmī in an effort to trace romance poems to their origin.
The first source material to be examined is "Tārīkh-i Bal'amī," a Bal'ami's history, a piece of prose written in 963 in which the theme of romance poems can be noted.
The second work is "Shāh-nāma" by Abū al-Qāsim Firdausī, composed between about 980 and 1010. This piece illustrates the prototype of a romance poem in the form of an epic (Mathnavī) following the theme from the above cited history.
After this are romance poems by 'Ayyūqī, a cavalier poet and 'Unṣurī, these introduced a new concept based on Arabic and Greek traditions but none of them are considered fully mature.
The fourth is "Vīs u Rāmīn" composed by Fakhr al-Dīn As'ad Gurgānī about 1040-1050. This work represents the completed form of the romance poem which greatly influenced classical Persian literature for about one hundred years afterwards.
Lastly, Niẓāmī's contributions have been given the highest position in romance poetry for his use of description especially in comparison to the source materials we have discussed above. In fact, he is considered to be largely responsible for introducing an important feature of the mystic poem which was about to develop at the same time and as a consequence he is given an important place in the history of classical Persian literature.