Humans have been seeking a philosophy for life since remote antiquity and as a consequence they have always wanted to discover the mystery of death too. They have constantly feared death without really understanding it and they have sought to elude this absolute fact; but there is no escape from it. And only those who resort to religious beliefs could seek the truth about death without being nagged by fear. Life and death are of the issues that have always preoccupied man’s mind and the contemporary philosophical-literary and artistic schools have not been neglectful of them and they have tried to understand and study them and discover the truth about them.
Abol Ghasim Shaabbi is one of the contemporary Arab poets who is deeply preoccupied with the subject of life and death. He has taken every opportunity including: passing hints at religious beliefs or diseases or passing away of loved ones or literary trend or the like to write again and again about life and death in his meager poetical works.
Apparently, some critics accuse him of contradicting himself in a number of occasions and here we intend to study the cause of these contradictions based on his poetry and viewpoints.

Key words: death, life, poetry, contradiction, pessimism, romantics.