Is the language of expression poetic?

Wole Soyinka tells his play "Death and the King's Horseman" in language that is simple, but deeply poetic. This is done for a few different reasons. The first is that many of the characters in the play are uneducated, and so simple language speaks to a factor of believability. The second is that it allows the reader to follow the plot, and to understand Yoruba customs and ideas without much difficulty. Furthermore, the simple language also allows Soyinka to ram home points and ideas, without obfuscating them in dense prose. Yet, because of this, the language takes on a poetic quality as well. It is poetic because of the simplicity and the force of the points conveyed. (Consider the statement by Elesin that "Life is honor. It ends when honor ends.")