The Space of Love and Emotional Landscapes in Faruq Juwaidah’s Poems

Abstract

Research on Faruq Juwaidah’s poetry generally focuses on stylistic aspects, symbolism, and the theme of love, while studies that consider space as a formative element of emotional experience remain limited. Based on this gap, this study analyzes the representation of intimate space, imaginary space, and memory space in the poems “Law Annanā Lam Naftariq” and “Law Tarji‘īn” through Gaston Bachelard’s poetics of space, and explains the role of these three spaces in constructing the spatial imagination of love and the emotional landscape. This study employs a qualitative descriptive method with a phenomenological approach and interpretive literary analysis. Data consisting of lines, phrases, and expressions containing spatial imagery were collected through the read-and-note technique, then classified, analyzed, and compared based on the three categories of space. The research findings indicate that these three categories of space are interrelated in representing closeness, preserving memories, and imagining ways to cope with loss. Although both poems depict love that endures after a separation, they present different emotional landscapes. “Law Annanā Lam Naftariq” expresses regret through a hypothetical scenario in which the separation never occurred, while “Law Tarji‘īn” portrays a search for a lover who is no longer physically present, accompanied by the hope of their return. These findings confirm that images of the body, nature, and memory function not merely as poetic elements, but as a medium for the construction of the meaning of love. Thus, this study expands the application of the poetics of space in the study of modern Arabic poetry by demonstrating how representations of space shape the way poetic subjects interpret intimacy, loss, and hope.