THE CONVERGENCE OF STYLES: A STUDY OF JONSON’S VOLPONE AND SOYINKA’S THE LION AND THE JEWEL

Abstract

The relationship between earlier creative writers and later ones in terms of their treatment of theme(s) and poetic style has been examined in literary criticism to reflect varied shades of influence, imitation, mimicry, and/or originality of the writers’ skills. This essay discusses the relationship between Ben Jonson, a 16th century dramatist, and Wole Soyinka, a 20th century dramatist, with close attention to their artistic choices and stylistic modes, drawing interpretive insight from Bloom’s (1997) poetics to explore how their craft in Volpone (1605) and The lion and the Jewel (1963) manifests semblances and echoes to make a case for the convergence of aesthetic skills. The paper concludes that although Soyinka’s dramatic skills echo Jonson’s, the former’s skills express originality in the artistic choices he makes. Furthermore, it considers how these choices are manipulated to reflect his views on the ridiculous posturing of humans.