Therefore, a critical discourse analysis focusing on Vandijk’s ideological square serves as an effective tool for revealing the mechanisms. In the present study, Adnan al-Sayegh, a contemporary Iraqi poet, has been selected to investigate the representation of polarized identities.The experience of exile, the sorrow of separation from the homeland, and the encounter with foreign cultures imbued his poetry with a depth through which the polarized identities of "us" (Iraqi society) versus "the others" (occupiers/oppressors/traitors) are represented. Given Adnan al-Sayegh's lived experience within turbulent political and social contexts, a fundamental gap exists in the analysis of the discursive mechanisms of identity polarization and its representation. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to identify and explain the methods of representing polarized identities in this poet's work, as well as to uncover the macrostructure of his poetry based on the components of Van Dijk's ideological square.The present study is of a qualitative–quantitative nature and is written based on a descriptive–analytical method. . Finally, after analyzing the chosen samples, the degree of overlap between the strategies for representing social actors and the components of Van Dijk's ideological square has been determined using MAXQDA software. The findings indicate that the strategies of identity representation in the components of "highlighting positive aspects of us" and "emphasizing negative aspects of others" have been employed with varying intensity and distribution." Furthermore, the predominance of the component of "negative representation of the other" indicates the macrostructure of a "discourse of exposure" in al-Sayegh's poetry.