J. M. Synge 1871-1909
J. M. Synge
We all recall how John Millington Synge was commemorated by James Joyce in his doggerel “Gas From a Burner”:
… The Great John Millicent Synge
Who soars above on an angel’s wing
In the playboy shift that he pinched as swag
From Maunsel’s manager’s travelling-bag.
J.M Synge was born on April 16th 1871. He belonged to an ecclesiastical family. One of his ancestors, an eighteenth-century bishop of Clonfert, wrote and spoke widely against the Penal Laws then in force.
In his writings he eschewed a sentimental and romantic portrayal of Irish life.; He successfully achieved what he termed a collaboration between a naturalist, realist Zola-esque style and one based solely on the imaginary. His portrayal of Irish life was anathema to the gaelgoiri later satirised by Flann O’Brien in An Bėal Bocht.
Ireland was going through a period of linguistic transition in Synge’s day, as the use of Irish as a vernacular was declining. Yet Synge was sensitive to the speech of ordinary folk and he could see that the Irish language continued to9 influence the speech patterns, vocabulary and psychology of those who were adopting English. In this regard the Irish language was operating as a happy ghost.
Had Hogdkin’s Disease not taken Synge at the early age of thirty-seven, it is hard to see how his genius could have subsequently operated in the independent Ireland, whose society and culture were dominated by the Catholic Church inspired mediocrity which became Ireland’s unofficial religion, and remains so in many areas to this day. It is possible that he would have become as well known as a poet, as he was a dramatist. I include here the final lines from his poem “On an Anniversary”.
And so when all my little work is done
They’ll say I cam in Eighteen-Seventy-one,
And died in Dublin. …What year will they write
For My poor passage to the stall of night?
