Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
John Millington Synge
-
Standard Name: Synge, John Millington
Indexed Name: J. M. Synge
JMS
began publishing early in the twentieth century under the influence of the Irish revival. During his short life he wrote several plays that have remained in the repertoire, while his study of the Aran Islands (a blend of travel writing, folklore, and cultural antholopology) has been equally durable and influential.
Their production of Synge
's The Playboy of the Western World caused a good deal of commotion. At New York a rowdy audience threw items such as eggs, potatoes, and watches at the actors. The...
Theme or Topic Treated in Text
Augusta Gregory
The volume includes detailed accounts of the Abbey
's encounters with English and Irish censorship, including the struggles over Shaw
's The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet and Synge
's The Playboy of the Western World...
Textual Production
Augusta Gregory
Lady Gregory found this play very difficult to write, and turned to both Yeats
and Synge
for help. Her own later diagnosis was, I think I kept too closely to history.
Saddlemyer, Ann, and Augusta Gregory. “Foreword and History of First Productions”. The Tragedies and Tragic Comedies of Lady Gregory, Colin Smythe, p. v - xiii.
vii
The play was...
Textual Production
W. B. Yeats
He and his wife Georgiana
travelled to Stockholm to accept the prize. In his acceptance speech, Yeats acknowledged the importance of Augusta Gregory
and John Synge
to his writing.
“Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC.
19
Residence
Seamus Heaney
On his resignation from Queen's University, SH
settled in a cottage in the Republic of Ireland: at Glanmore in Wicklow, giving up the routine—and salary—of a teaching position to put the practice of poetry...
Performance of text
Augusta Gregory
One source of inspiration for this play was the 1887-88 imprisonment of AG
's close friend, Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
, for protesting against the eviction of tenants during the Land War.
McDiarmid, Lucy et al. “Introduction, Notes, and Bibliography”. Selected Writings, Penguin, pp. xi - xliv, 525.
537, 547
The play...
Performance of text
Augusta Gregory
The Abbey Theatre Company
produced AG
's The White Cockade, a play which J. M. Synge
thought made the writing of historical drama again possible.
Saddlemyer, Ann, and Augusta Gregory. “Foreword and History of First Productions”. The Tragedies and Tragic Comedies of Lady Gregory, Colin Smythe, p. v - xiii.
vii
Saddlemyer, Ann, and Augusta Gregory. “Foreword and History of First Productions”. The Tragedies and Tragic Comedies of Lady Gregory, Colin Smythe, p. v - xiii.
ix
Occupation
Augusta Gregory
A plan for a theatre began to emerge, with the stated mission of show[ing] that Ireland is not the home of buffonery and of easy sentiment, as it has been represented, but the home of...
Occupation
Edith Craig
The costumes were judged to be a success, and the performance marked a turning point in her theatrical career. She branched into costume design (having formed a company, Edith Craig and Co.
, which was...
Literary responses
Augusta Gregory
The collection was widely admired when it first appeared in print. Yeats
praised it in his preface as the best book that has come out of Ireland in my time
McDiarmid, Lucy et al. “Introduction, Notes, and Bibliography”. Selected Writings, Penguin, pp. xi - xliv, 525.
xxviii
and used it as...
Literary responses
Emily Lawless
Algernon Swinburne
wrote Lawless a gushing letter on reading Grania, describing it as one of the most exquisite and perfect works in the language—unique in pathos, humour, and convincing persuasion of truthfulness.
Sichel, Edith. “Emily Lawless”. Nineteenth Century, Vol.
76
, pp. 80-100.
85
J. M. Synge
Literary responses
Teresa Deevy
This work was awarded, jointly with Paul Vincent Carroll
's Things that are Caesar's, the Abbey
's prize for new playwrights. It was revived at the Abbey
in late August 1937. Frank O'Connor
wrote...
Leisure and Society
Kate O'Brien
As a student in Dublin, KOB
eagerly attended the Abbey Theatre
. This was a period between Synge
and O'Casey
, but she delighted in plays by Shaw
, beginning with Man and Superman.
O’Brien, Kate. My Ireland. B. T. Batsford.
116-17
Friends, Associates
Augusta Gregory
AG
first noticed John Millington Synge
in May 1898, near the ridge of Inishmaan, one of the Aran Islands, where they were both collecting folklore.
Stevenson, Mary Lou Kohfeldt. Lady Gregory: The Woman Behind the Irish Renaissance. Atheneum.