Burmese poetry has a long and distinguished history, and the first datable poetry fragments we have are from 1113 CE. Classical Burmese poetry comes in many lengths and forms, with complicated rules regarding how many syllables there should be in a verse, and which syllable should rhyme with which syllable. Most of it is characterized by a repeated sequence of 3 internally-rhymed lines consisting of 4 syllables each–a pattern that has become known as "climbing rhyme". A Than-Bauk, conventionally a witty saying or epigram, is a three line "climbing rhyme" poem in which each line has four syllables. The rhyme is on the fourth syllable of the first line, the third syllable of the second line, and the second syllable of the third.

Most artistic work and literature was expected to be somehow related to religion, such as the lives of Buddha or something similarly approved, and so there is very little in the way of Burmese fiction prior to the 20th century. In orthodox Buddhist teaching, telling lies is a serious sin and is strictly prohibited, and it is believed that fiction was taught to be unreal and imaginery, and therefore frowned upon as a lie too. Because of this conservatism, the first Burmese fictional novel didn't appear until the early 1900s - "Maung Yin Maung and Ma Mae Ma" by James Hla Kyaw.