Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/480

 W.C.). Afterwards he gave up his lodging in Paris (90 Rue d'Assas), and thenceforth passed much time either in or near Dublin. or in the wilds of Wicklow and Kerry, the Blasket Islands, and the lonely places by Dingle Bay. There he found the material for the occasional papers 'In Wicklow' and 'In West Kerry,' published partly, from time to time, in the 'Manchester Guardian' and the 'Shanachie,' and reprinted in the fourth volume of the 'Works.' From 3 June till 2 July 1905 he made a tour with Mr. Jack B. Yeats through the congested districts of Connemara. Some descriptions of the journey, with illustrations by Mr. Jack B. Yeats, were contributed to the 'Manchester Guardian.' Twelve of the papers are re-printed in the fourth volume of the 'Works.'

The Abbey Theatre was opened in Dublin 27 Dec. 1904, and Synge became one of its three literary advisers, helping to direct its destinies until his death. There on 4 Feb. 1905 was first performed 'The Well of the Saints' (published in December following). There, too, was first acted (26 Jan. 1907) 'The Playboy of the Western World,' written in 1905-6. This piece excited the uproar and confusion with which the new thing is usually received, but was subsequently greeted with tumultuous applause both in Dublin and by the most cultured audience in England.

During his last years Synge lived almost wholly in Ireland, mostly in Dublin. His health, never very robust, was beginning to trouble him. His last months of life, 1908-9, were spent in writing and rewriting the unfinished three-act play 'Deirdre of the Sorrows,' which was posthumously published at Miss Yeats's Cuala Press, on 5 July 1910, and was acted at the Abbey Theatre on 13 Jan. 1910. He also worked at translations from Villon and Petrarch, wrote some of the strange ironical poems, so like the man speaking, which were published by the Cuala Press just after his death, and finished the study 'Under Ether,' published in the fourth volume of the 'Works.' He died unmarried at a private nursing home in Dublin on 24 March 1909. He was buried in a family tomb at the protestant Mount Jerome general graveyard at Harold's Cross, Dublin. His 'Poems and Translations'—the poems written at odd times between 1891 and 1908, but most of them towards the end of his life—was published on 5 June 1909 by the Cuala Press.

Synge stood about five feet eight or nine inches high. He was neither weakly nor robustly made. He was dark (not blackhaired), with heavy moustache, and small goatee on lower lip, otherwise clean-shaven. His hair was worn rather long; his face was pale, drawn, seamed, and old-looking. The eyes were at once smoky, and kindling; the mouth had a great play of humour on it. His voice was very guttural and quick, and lively with a strange vitality. His manner was generally reserved, grave, courteous; he talked little; but had a bright malice of fun always ready. He gave little in conversation; for much of his talk, though often wise with the criticism seen in his prefaces, was only a reflection of things he had seen, and of phrases, striking and full of colour, overheard by him at sea or on shore; but there was a charm about him which all felt.

He brought into Irish literature the gifts of detachment from topic and a wild vitality of tragedy. The ironical laughter of his comedy is always most mocking when it covers a tragic intention. He died when his powers were only beginning to show themselves. As revelations of himself, his poems and one or two of the sketches are his best works; as ironic visions of himself, 'The Playboy,' 'The Shadow of the Glen,' and 'The Tinker's Wedding' are his best; but in 'The Well of the Saints,' in 'Riders to the Sea,' in the book on Aran, in the heart-breaking lyric about the birds, and in the play of Deirdre, he touches with a rare sensitiveness on something elemental. Like all men of genius he awakened animosity in those anxious to preserve old standards or fearful of setting up new ones.

Among the most important portraits (other than photographs) are: 1. An oil painting by Mr. J. B. Yeats, R.H.A., now in the Municipal Gallery in Dublin. 2. A drawing by Mr. J. B. Yeats, R.H.A. (the best likeness), reproduced in the 'Samhain' for December 1904. 3. A drawing by Mr. J. B. Yeats, R.H.A., 'Synge at Rehearsal,' reproduced as a frontispiece to 'The Playboy of the Western World,' and to the 'Works,' vol. ii. 4. A drawing by Mr. James Paterson (the frontispiece to the 'Works,' vol. iv.).

'The Works of John M. Synge' (4 vols. 1910), with four portraits (two from photographs), contain all the published books and plays, and all the miscellaneous papers which his literary executors thought worthy of inclusion. Much unpublished material remains in their hands, and a few papers contributed to the ’Speaker' during 1904-5 and to the 'Manchester Guardian' during 1905-6-7-8, and an early article in