Exploring Manifestations of Animus Archetype in Nazik Al-Malaika’s Poems

In Jung's analytical psychology model, the mental part of human beings consists of male and female elements and only the agreeing side or element is evident and the other side is hidden. The animus or inner male is the masculine side of woman and responsible for masculine behaviors that influences subconsciously her behavior, performance, speech, and mental life. Jung believes that if a woman can control her inner force and compromise with it she will show its positive masculine characteristics and if she cannot control it she will show negative masculine characteristics. This inner force of women’s mental issues manifests itself in various positive and negative forms. Female poetry is one of the main manifestations of the animus. The study aimed to discover the manifestations, meanings, and implications of animus in Nazik al-Malaika’s poems, as one of the pioneers of form and content revolution in contemporary Arabic poetry. Lack of a systematic analysis of the masculine aspect of Nazik Al-Malaika’s poems, as one of pioneering female contemporary Arabic poetry, which uses psychological approaches was identified to be necessary. The results showed that in her individuality realm, she sometimes is in peace with her male side and sometimes she struggles with it and puts her psychological life in danger. Moreover, the dominance of desperation in her poems shows that she has usually been unsuccessful in dealing with the influencing force. Therefore, the negative aspects of animus are more manifested in comparison with positive aspects.