From the time she began publishing in 1954 to her death at 32 in a car accident about thirteen years later, Forugh Farrokhzâd, a prominent poet of twentieth century Iran, composed poetry that challenged some of the fundamental precepts of conservative, patriarchal Iranian society. She wrote openly autobiographical poems from a female perspective, poems that defied tradition in their unapologetic celebration of feminine sensuality, in their rejection of conventional women’s roles, and most importantly, in their emphasis on individual experience and self-awareness. This paper will argue that although Farrokhzad was primarily an urban poet, she frequently focused on the beauty of nature as a medium of self realization. Sometimes devastating, as in “Vahm-e Sabz” [Green Delusion], often inspiring, as in “Fath-e Bagh” [Conquest of the Garden], nature in Farrokhzad’s work tends to associate with the advancement of individuality in constant opposition to cities representative of its repression. This extends past common characterizations of nature as genuine, contrasting with urban artificiality. The extent of Farrokhzâd’s emphasis on the individual becomes clear in light of the fact that most of her social criticism links stagnation and progressive degeneration of the external environment with individual lack of self-awareness. Nature enables human growth; the speaker of “It is Only Sound that Remains” aligns herself with nature, which she places in opposition to the society that she portrays as numbed, more insect than human. I will be examining the social criticism inherent in Farrokhzad’s creation of and emphasis on the dichotomy between society and often unthinking conformity to models on one hand, and nature and the development of individuality on the other. The conception of self as reflected in her poetry is conveyed through a filter of patriarchal mores, and although she did not run the risk of governmental persecution for her poetry, the personal cost of her life and writing outside of conventional boundaries is frequently reflected in her work. The often stark illustrations of her isolation, for example, invite reflections on her society. My sources include Karl Weintraub’s The Value of the Individual, Farzaneh Milani’s Veils and Words and “Forugh Farrokhzad: A Feminist Perspective,” Mohammad Hoquqi’s Forugh Farrokhzâd az Âghâz tâ Emruz [Forguh Farrokhzâd from the Beginning until Today], Ardavan Davaran’s “’The Conquest of the Garden’: A Significant Instance of the Poetic Development of Forugh Farrokhzâd,” and Michael C. Hillmann’s A Lonely Woman: Forugh Farrokhzâd and Her Poetry.