The Formation of Identities in Nizar Qabbani's Poem "The Rooster" in Light of Laclau and Mouffe's Theory

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Department of Arabic Language and Literature, University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran

10.22059/jal-lq.2025.392861.1493

Abstract

The theory of discourse analysis developed by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe is considered an effective tool for examining authoritarian discourse in political poetry. It employs a contextual set of conceptual tools, encompassing key concepts such as dislocation, hegemony, social antagonism, nodal points, floating signifiers, and pivotal signifiers, among others. This framework illustrates how political discourses shape identities and conflicts by invoking shifting symbols and meanings, emphasizing the dynamic nature of meaning, articulation processes, and social struggles surrounding the establishment of power. This study aims to analyze the discourse of power in the poem "The Rooster," which has been examined as a prominent example of Qabbani’s political poetry, through the lens of Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. It seeks to identify how discourses of power are either reproduced or destabilized within the poem and to explore how authority is challenged through symbolic language and dark irony. The study adopts a descriptive-analytical methodology grounded in critical discourse analysis, investigating the mechanisms of power legitimation, processes of marginalization, and how authoritarian discourse is undermined within the text. The findings reveal that the poem exposes the dynamics of identity formation within authoritarian discourse. The rooster embodies the identity of the tyrannical ruler through connotations of oppression and domination, while the hens represent the subjugated people. The poem highlights contradictions within authoritarian discourse, exposing the fragility of the rooster’s identity when confronted by the threat of a new rooster as a counter-signifier. It also points to the hens’ role in reproducing power through their submission, while subtly suggesting possibilities of resistance emerging from these contradictions, thereby opening the potential for the formation of new identities based on defiance.

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References

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Ebn-Almoqaffa in Narrative and Poetry (Formerly known as Quarterly of Arabic Language and Literature
Volume 21, Issue 4
January 2026
Pages 353-367

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