This study aims to identify the story of Siyâvash in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh as presented in Persian language textbooks, alongside its corresponding figural depictions in the Tahmasp Shahnameh, and to clarify the role of image in realizing the component of "perceiving feeling and meaning." Despite the emphasis placed by the "Fundamental Reform Document of Education" on creating conditions for enhancing aesthetic experiences within curricula, the potential of text–image interaction in Persian textbooks for actualizing this approach has received limited scholarly attention. This research adopts a qualitative approach based on Stuart Cary Welch's² model of text and image analysis. The research population consists of Persian textbooks published between 1310 and 1403 SH (1931–2024), and the research sample comprises eight Persian textbooks and five figural depictions related to the story of Siyâvash from the Tahmasp Shahnameh. The findings indicate that images have been used to accompany the literary text in only a very small number of Persian textbooks, and that the figural depictions corresponding to the story of Siyâvash in the Tahmasp Shahnameh have had no place in the process of representing this narrative. As a result, the narrative of Siyâvash relies predominantly on written text, and the potential for interaction between the language of poetry and the language of image in shaping aesthetic experiences within the process of "perceiving feeling and meaning" has received insufficient attention.

Keywords: perceiving feeling and meaning, visual decoding, painting (naqqāshi), Tahmasp Shahnameh