Picture of Death in the Poems of Ferdowsi and Naser Khosrow

Man is a prudent being who has never been completely free of the obsession of death. Death as an ambiguous and unrepeatable experience is generally considered as dreadful. This fear strengthens and weakens due to various factors such as beliefs, thought structure, personal attributes, psychological traits, human’s manner of life, etc; and triggers diverse impacts on man’s speech and action. Ferdowsi is a scholar widely known for his philosophical thought on thanatophobia and death escape. Naser Khosrow, on the other hand, is not so mentally preoccupied with death in his poetic compositions; neither is he afraid of a confrontation with death. This article, applying a descriptive-analytical method, aims at investigating the roots of these two Muslim poet’s diverse perception of the concept of death, and why Ferdowsi was so obsessed by it, while Naser Khosrow showed quite confident feelings.