Shi'ites' Contribution to Poetry

It would suffice to say that those who excelled in Arabic poetry were mostly Shi'ites, like Farazdaq, Kumait al-Asadi, De'bil Khuzai, Abu Tamam Bahtari, Al-Mutanabbi, Sayyid Razi, Abu Faras etc. We can safely give a similar observation about the poets in other languages spoken by Muslims, like Persian, Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi etc.
As a matter of fact, the elegies (marthiyah) written about Imam Husain (A.S.) form the core of Islamic literature in the Indo-Pakistan Sub-continent, because there the literary life started with elegies.
The historians of Indo-Pakistani literature have all agreed upon the fact that the first Urdu poet who had a complete Diwan was Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the Qutb Shahi ruler and founder of the historical city of Hyderabad in southern India. This noble king spent most of his literary potential in composing elegies on Imam Husain (A.S.).
It is also a proven fact that the Kings of Golkunda, Bijapur and Ahmad Nagar were all Shi'ites, as well as the Amirs of Bengal, some of the Amirs of Sindh, many governors, like Nawab Shah Nawaz Khan of Lahore. They had great influence and had been very much instrumental in establishing the tradition of gatherings in Muharram and helping Shi'ism develop in Indo-Pakistan Sub-continent.
Most of the poets there during those periods gave prominence to the elegies of Imam Husain (A.S.) because, apart from the satisfaction of their religious beliefs, they had hopes of getting rewards from those kings and Amirs for such efforts. The fact is that the most prominent poets of Indo-Pakistan sub-continent were greatly attached to these great personalities of Islamic history, especially Imam Husain (A.S.). They always composed poems in praise of Ahl-Al-Bait as well as elegies about them as a means of their spiritual satisfaction.
If we look upon the history of India and Pakistan, even though hastily, we will be convinced that the leading figures in the field of poetry right from the period of Wali Daccani (1079-1155 A.H.), gave great attention to praising the Ahlul-Bait(A.S.) and writing elegies about them. It would be sufficient to name a few like Mir Taqi, Mirza Sawda, Mir Hasan, Insha Ullah Khan, Mir Mushafi, Mirza Dabir, Mir Anis and Mirza Ghalib.