Abstract

Statement of the Problem and Objective:  This study examines the nature and representation of emotions in Ḍamīr al-Mukhmal, the poetry collection of the Omani poet Abdullah al-Ka‘bi, through a semiotic approach drawing on the theories of Algirdas Julien Greimas and Jacques Fontanille. The paper proceeds from the premise that emotion is not merely a secondary embellishment within poetic discourse but a fundamental component in meaning-making and in shaping the human experience articulated within the text. Poetry is considered a rich space where imagination interacts with knowledge and where emotions intersect with narrative structures, language, and imagery. Thus, a semiotic reading of emotions is essential for understanding the dynamics of signification within the collection. The article addresses a central question concerning the presence of love and its counter-emotions, including hatred, in al-Ka’bi’s poetry, and how these affective states are transformed into linguistic and symbolic signs operating at both surface and deep semantic levels. The motivation for this inquiry arises from the emotional density that characterizes Ḍamīr al-Mukhmal, which calls for an analytical approach that moves beyond aesthetic appreciation toward uncovering the structures organizing these sentiments. The study therefore explores the range of passions expressed by the poet, highlighting love as the semantic center that organizes other emotions, while hatred emerges as a reaction directed not at individuals but at manifestations of injustice and suffering. Additional emotional states—such as loss, displacement, and alienation—also contribute to the thematic shaping of the collection. The main purpose is to clarify how these emotions are formed within the poetic discourse, how they interact with narrative components and linguistic choices, and how they contribute to a value system reflecting the poet’s worldview. The analysis argues that emotion functions as a structuring principle within discourse. It also seeks to link these emotions to the poet’s individual and collective identity, demonstrating his role in shaping notions of homeland, belonging, fracture, and hope. Through this lens, the collection appears as a semantic field in which the self articulates its emotions through complex patterns that preserve tension between nearness and distance, desire and refusal, intimacy and estrangement.
Methodology: The study employs a semiotic methodology drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Greimas and Fontanille, analyzing emotions through their discursive structures and analytical tools. Central to the approach is the actantial model, which distinguishes narrative roles such as subject, object, sender, helper, and opponent, thereby organizing narrative movement. The Semiotic Square is also used to clarify oppositional and contradictory relations among concepts, revealing internal tensions governing the self’s relationship with the world.
The methodology includes analyzing different layers of signification. At the surface level, the analysis focuses on sensory images and direct signs, while at the deep level it examines structures related to identity, belonging, and value systems. The analysis relies on concepts from the semiotics of passions—such as intensity, quantity, desire, and mood—to assess degrees of tension, attraction, and separation. It also compares emotional patterns across poems in light of previous scholarship to determine the distinctive contribution of al-Ka’bi’s work to the semiotic study of emotions.
Discussion and Analysis: The analysis focuses on love and hatred as the principal emotional poles in Ḍamīr al-Mukhmal. Love appears as a connective passion linking the self to objects, including homeland, beloved figures, and memory. In al-Ka’bi’s poetry, love is expressed through sensory imagery rooted in everyday life—such as dates, palm trees, and rain—functioning as signs that transcend material existence toward deeper symbolic meanings. Love becomes an existential value nourished by memory and renewed through experience, stabilizing the self in moments of fragmentation. Hatred, on the other hand, emerges as a separating passion, not directed at the beloved object itself but at the pain and distortion inflicted upon it. Hatred functions as a form of protest against injustice and violence, expressed through images of destruction and bloodshed. Hatred then becomes a defensive stance protecting the values embodied by the homeland. Analysis shows that love and hatred merge in dynamic interaction, as rejection intersects desire and pain intertwines with longing, revealing the fluidity of emotional experience. The study also highlights the prominent presence of alienation, portrayed as the self’s separation from familiar spaces. Alienation appears through images of departure, absence, and displacement, evoking the emotional weight of loss. Within the semiotics of passion, alienation reveals a paradoxical structure in which separation intensifies attachment, illustrating emotion as movement between connection and rupture. The poem “Waḥīd ka-Kitāb” (“Lonely as a Book”) illuminates the relationship between the self and its artistic past. Symbols such as the book, its cover, and its scent serve as vehicles of emotional expression: the cover represents journey, the scent suggests spiritual depth, and its fading signals awareness of vulnerability. Through this interaction between objects and the self, the poem constructs a representation of identity shaped through memory and reflection. Across the collection, opposing emotions coexist in delicate balance, transforming poetry into a space for reconstructing the world according to a subjective yet humanistic vision grounded in values such as freedom, justice, and belonging. Poetic language oscillates between sensory clarity and elevated symbolism, producing discourse that integrates bodily emotion with intellectual contemplation.
Findings: The study finds Ḍamīr al-Mukhmal a rich semiotic field for analyzing emotion. Love functions as the central axis organizing passion, while hatred emerges as a response to injury and injustice. Emotions arise from the interaction of surface imagery and deep structures, transforming sensory signs into existential values. The theoretical framework developed by Greimas and Fontanille effectively reveals the way in which emotions structure narrative and relationships between he self and its object. The poetry presents a humanistic vision where emotion interprets reality and personal experience becomes shared cultural signs, contributing significantly to the semiotics of passion.