A Comparative Study of the Depiction of Youth and Old Age by IbnMu tazz ‎and Saadi

Youth and old age are among themes adopted everywhere and at all times by poets, who have written poems on them from their own perspective. The renowned Arab poet IbnMutazz and prominent Iranian poet Saadi are two poets who from a particular, though close, standpoint addressed the themes in their poems. Despite living in two different worlds, they presented a similar picture of youth and old age in their poetry. The present paper tries to provide a comparative study of Saadi’s and IbnMutazz’s opinion about youth and old age, using a descriptive-analytical method based on the American approach. The findings suggest both poets describe youth as a period of frivolity, pleasure and luxury, strength and exuberance, while old age is on one hand a period of physical weakness, frailty and loss of physical power and on the other, a period of piety, rejection of pleasures and increased prudence and knowledge, which ultimately ends in death.