Synge, John Millington, 1871-1909, Irish poet and dramatist, b. near Dublin, of Protestant parents. He was an important figure in the Irish literary renaissance. As a young man he studied music in Germany and later lived in Paris, where he wrote literary criticism. In Paris he met his compatriot W. B. Yeats, who persuaded Synge to live for a while in the Aran Islands and then return to Dublin and devote himself to creative work. All of Synge's plays reflect his experiences in the Aran Islands. Intense and poetic in style, his works depict the bleak and tragic lives of Irish peasants and fisherfolk. His first two one-act plays—In the Shadow of the Glen (1903), a comedy, and Riders to the Sea (1904), a tragedy—were presented by the Irish National Theatre Society. In 1904 this group, with Synge, Yeats, and Lady Augusta Gregory as codirectors, organized the famous Abbey Theatre. Two of Synge's comedies, The Well of the Saints (1905) and The Playboy of the Western World (1907), were presented by the Abbey players. The latter play created a furor of resentment among Irish patriots stung by Synge's spoof of heroic ideals and nationalism. His later works were The Tinker's Wedding, published in 1908 but not produced for fear of further riots, and Deirdre of the Sorrows, a tragedy unfinished at the time of his death but presented by the Abbey players in 1910. The Aran Islands (1907) is Synge's journal of his stay on the islands.

(born April 16, 1871, Rathfarnham, near Dublin, Ire.—died March 24, 1909, Dublin) Irish playwright. After studying languages and music in Dublin and France, he met William Butler Yeats, who advised Synge to go to the west coast of Ireland to draw material from life. From 1899 to 1902 he spent his summers on the Aran Islands, observing the people and learning their language; he based his first plays, In the Shadow of the Glen (1903) and Riders to the Sea (1904), on islanders' stories. His travels on the Irish west coast inspired his most famous play, The Playboy of the Western World (1907); its unsentimental treatment of Irish character traits caused riots at its opening at the Abbey Theatre. His unfinished Deirdre of the Sorrows was performed in 1910. A poetic dramatist of great power, he was a leading figure of the Irish literary renaissance.

Learn more about Synge, John Millington with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Synge may refer to:

• Cathleen Synge Morawetz (born 1923), mathematician
• Charles Synge Christopher Bowen, English judge
• John Lighton Synge (1897-1995), Irish mathematician and physicist
• John Millington Synge (1871-1909), Irish dramatist, poet, prose writer, and collector of folklore
• Richard Laurence Millington Synge (1914-1994), British biochemist