Five thousand years back the work on Pashto literature and poetry started and still continues. During the period of the famous Pashto poet Bayazid Ansari from 1526 to 1574 Pashto poetry was boosted. He started poetry for preaching to people and added a powerful and innovative tone to poetry verses.
The first book of Pashto poetry Khair-ul- Bayan was written by him and It was based on Sufism. During his period some more famous poets and scholars named Arazni, Mukhis, Mirza Khan Ansari, Daulat and Wasil poetry work were remarkable.
The second period of Pashto Poetry starts from 1613 to 1689 and was magnificent. This period starts with the poetry of Khushal Khan Khatak, also knowns as the father of Pashto and played a vital role during this period. He brings some new modernism to Pashto literature. The famous poets of this era were Rahman Baba, Hafiz Shirazi, Abdul Qadir Khattak, Ashraf Khan Hijri, Kazim Khan Shaida and more.
In the third period, the death of the emperor and poet Ahmad Shad Abdali changed the scenario and the evolution of Pashto poetry becomes end. The decline of Mughals emperors and the takeover of the British government changed the scenario.
In the fourth period of Pashto Poetym the emergence of young poets like Amir Hamza Khan and Dost Mohammad. They have written poetry for the freedom fights of the Khilafat and Hijrat movements.