Edmund John Millington Synge (/sɪŋ/; 16 April 1871 â€" 24 March
1909) was an Irish playwright, poet, prose writer, travel writer and
collector of folklore. He was a key figure in the Irish Literary
Revival and was one of the co-founders of the Abbey Theatre. He is
best known for his play The Playboy of the Western World, which caused
riots in Dublin during its opening run at the Abbey Theatre.Although
he came from a privileged Anglo-Irish background, Synge's writings are
mainly concerned with the world of the Catholic peasants of rural
Ireland and with what he saw as the essential paganism of their world
view. Synge developed Hodgkin's disease, a metastatic cancer that was
then untreatable. He died several weeks short of his 38th birthday as
he was trying to complete his last play, Deirdre of the Sorrows.Synge
was born in Newtown Villas, Rathfarnham, County Dublin, on 16 April
1871.[1] He was the youngest son in a family of eight children. His
parents were members of the Protestant, upper middle class.[1] his
father, John Hatch Synge, who was a barrister, came from a family of
landed gentry in Glanmore Castle, County Wicklow. He was the uncle of
brothers, mathematician John Lighton Synge and optical microscopy
pioneer Edward Hutchinson Synge.[2] Synge's paternal grandfather, also
named John Synge, was an evangelical Christian involved in the
movement that became the Plymouth Brethren and his maternal
grandfather, Robert Traill, had been a Church of Ireland rector in
Schull, County Cork, who died in 1847 during the Great Irish
Famine.His great, great grandfather was the archdeacon of Killala [3]
1909) was an Irish playwright, poet, prose writer, travel writer and
collector of folklore. He was a key figure in the Irish Literary
Revival and was one of the co-founders of the Abbey Theatre. He is
best known for his play The Playboy of the Western World, which caused
riots in Dublin during its opening run at the Abbey Theatre.Although
he came from a privileged Anglo-Irish background, Synge's writings are
mainly concerned with the world of the Catholic peasants of rural
Ireland and with what he saw as the essential paganism of their world
view. Synge developed Hodgkin's disease, a metastatic cancer that was
then untreatable. He died several weeks short of his 38th birthday as
he was trying to complete his last play, Deirdre of the Sorrows.Synge
was born in Newtown Villas, Rathfarnham, County Dublin, on 16 April
1871.[1] He was the youngest son in a family of eight children. His
parents were members of the Protestant, upper middle class.[1] his
father, John Hatch Synge, who was a barrister, came from a family of
landed gentry in Glanmore Castle, County Wicklow. He was the uncle of
brothers, mathematician John Lighton Synge and optical microscopy
pioneer Edward Hutchinson Synge.[2] Synge's paternal grandfather, also
named John Synge, was an evangelical Christian involved in the
movement that became the Plymouth Brethren and his maternal
grandfather, Robert Traill, had been a Church of Ireland rector in
Schull, County Cork, who died in 1847 during the Great Irish
Famine.His great, great grandfather was the archdeacon of Killala [3]
Share this
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
Join us for free and get valuable content delivered right through your inbox.