An Analysis of the Use of Euphemism in Khosrow and Shirin by Nizami Ganjavi

Hakim Nizami Ganjavi is a poet with a style and creator of the literary movement in the creation of lyrical versified stories in the history of Persian literature. Khosrow and Shirin is the first lyrically versified story of the poet, the story of affection, love, and lust, and a brilliant example of body pleasure composition in Persian poetry. This article analyzes the use of euphemism in Khosrow and Shirin and seeks to answer the following questions:  euphemism has been used to express and represent what themes in Khosrow and Shirin; What kind of literary and rhetorical tricks has been reflected in Khosrow and Shirin through euphemism, and what factors have provided the ground for the formation of euphemism in Khosrow and Shirin. The author has extracted research data from the text of the story by complete inductive method and has explained the use of euphemism in the versified story by the descriptive-analytical method. The results show that themes such as words and concepts of taboo, death, and descriptions of making love and lust in the text of the story have been expressed using euphemism and the poet has used rhetorical techniques of simile, metaphor, and irony in expressing forbidden and challenging concepts, and by this way has tried to maintain his image and that of the actual and potential audience of the story.