Women’s Grief and Social Criticism in the Poem Balqis by Nizar Qabbani: A Sociological Perspective

Abstract

Nizar Qabbani’s poem Balqis emerged from the poet’s personal experience of losing his wife, Balqis al-Rawi, who was a victim of the bombing tragedy in Beirut in 1981. The poem expresses personal grief while addressing issues concerning women and the social conditions of Arab society. Previous studies have examined women’s representation, patriarchal culture, and socio-political issues in Qabbani’s poetry; however, studies connecting Balqis’s death, social criticism, and the social reality of Arab society within a literary sociology framework remain limited. This study aims to analyze women’s grief, social criticism, and reflections of Arab social reality in Balqis. Using content analysis, a descriptive approach, and library research, the study analyzes stanzas related to these three aspects. The findings reveal women’s grief through loss and emotional suffering, social criticism through violence and injustice, and reflections of Arab social reality through conflict, violence, and social suffering. The study demonstrates that Qabbani’s personal grief develops into a broader critique of the social and humanitarian conditions of Arab society. Its contribution lies in revealing the interconnectedness of individual loss, women’s position, and the socio-political reality of Arab society in Balqis through literary sociology.