Classical Gorani literature is believed to be the oldest Kurdish literary tradition which under the patronage of the Ardalans developed into a “literary koinè” in the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries. However, despite its antiquity and significance in the history of Kurdish literature, it has remained largely under-studied. It is against this backdrop that I offer an overview of Gorani literature, its history of development, and main literary characteristics in this article. Through extensive text analysis I examine the classical Gorani poetry for its major genres and forms and predominant themes and images. I study Gorani oral and written literature and their interactions, and the role it played in Kurdish poetic modernisation in the twentieth century.