Persian poets have long used the metaphor of winter as a signifier for repressive rule. This trope survives as a symbol of political censorship and also holds a personal connotation to the poet. This paper will examine the theme of winter as it manifests itself in the works of Mehdi Akhvan-e Sales and Forough Farrokhzad, both pre-Revolutionary poets who wrote poems that have been commonly interpreted as being anti-regime. Not only this, but these poets were part of a new wave of Persian poetry, that resulted in the dissolving of many of the past literary norms. However, as a result of their use of the motif of winter, their works have transcended the limits of pure historical allusion by tying themselves to a greater poetic tradition. Fascinatingly, both of these poets have been re-appropriated by the political left as rallying points against not only the Shah's regime, but also against the Islamic Republic after the much contested elections in 2009. The continued use of these poems in the political arena during times of societal turmoil suggests that they embody a qualitative aspect that transcends their temporal weight. However, when used politically, the focus tends to shift towards key phrases and sections while leaving the body of the work untouched, thus ignoring some of the personal themes that are latent in the works. Drawing inspiration from existing work on the relationship between art and politics, this paper examines the conflict between a temporally contextualized reading of a work and a purely literary one. By looking at the variety of meanings that the trope of winter offers, this paper strives to dissolve the binary that exists between a wholly theoretical reading of the work, and the most commonly used political reading.