J. M. Synge: Out of History into Legend

Abstract

J. M. Synge is everyone’s favorite Revivalist.2 He learned Irish, he went to the Aran Islands, he gave the Abbey its most enduring play, and he fell in love with one of the actresses. He had no interest in the “southern Californian”3 activities of Yeats and George Russell (AE) and resisted the siren call of O’Grady’s histories fearing that “the Saga people” might loosen his grip on reality. John Butler Yeats, summed up his appeal, “Mr. Synge has the true Irish heart—he lives in Aran, speaks Irish and knows the people. He is besides, a man of insight and sincerity, that is to say, a man of genius. Such men are the salt of Ireland.”4 Perhaps most importantly, Synge died young, leaving the path clear for Yeats to incorporate him into the Irish Revival, Inc: John Synge, I and Augusta Gregory, thought All that we did, all that we said or sang Must come from contact with the soil, from that Contact everything Antaeus-like grew strong. We three alone in modern times had brought Everything down to that sole test again, Dream of the noble and the beggar-man. (VP, pp. 601–4) KeywordsWhite HairNational TheatreIrish LanguageHero NarrativePoetry TalkThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.