Wole Soyinka’s lack of reverence for the Nigerian government is revealed metaphorically throughout The Swamp Dwellers.
Brianna Lewis

Films for the Humanities & Sciences (Firm), Films Media Group, and M-Net
(Firm). Wole Soyinka: Child of the Forest. New York, N.Y.: Films Media Group, 2010. Web. 11th November 2012.
This is a documentary about Wole Soyinka. It features interviews with several of Soyinka’s peers and family members. This source provides vital details on his upbringing, accomplishments, and activism.

“Am I really watching repeated scenes of exploitation, expropriation… Is it true that children have been mowed down by the crazy goons of a power drunk politician?”

“Igwezu: You detected from the Kadiye’s voice that he was fat… Keep still, priest of the swamps; this razor is keen and my hand is unsettled…”

Soyinka, Wole. “The Swamp Dwellers.” Collected Plays I. New York: Oxford
University Press, Inc., 1973. 79-112. Print.
The Swamp Dwellers is a play by Wole Soyinka. This is the focus of my research paper.

“Igwezu: Why are you so fat Kadiye?”

“Igwezu: You lie upon the land, Kadiye, and choke it in the folds of a serpent.”

Katrak, Ketu H. Wole Soyinka and Modern Tragedy. Westport: Greenwood Press, Inc.,
1986. Print.
This book is an in-depth study of Wole Soyinka's methodology for tragic writing. It discusses how Soyinka uses different elements of drama to create his particular form of tragedy. This book provides information about Wole Soyinka’s usage of characters in The Swamp Dwellers to show his disdain for authoritative figures.

“In the three plays which will be analyzed in this chapter, The Swamp Dwellers, A Dance of the Forests, and Madmen and Specialists, one perceives a movement from optimism to pessimism. The dramatist’s vision darkened through his personal confrontation with historical forces during the Nigerian