John Millington Synge (1871-1909) used the lives of the poor of Ireland to give life and color to his writing, thus leaving an indelible mark on the Irish literary canon.  What made the success of his life's work so improbable was his birth in Newton Villas, Rathfarnham, County Dublin, to a wealthy Protestant family and a lifelong battle with Hodgkins disease. His rural birth home (which has since become a part of suburban Dublin) was marked by the death of his father in 1872. Following this tragedy, Synge's mother moved the family to Rathgar, where John became fascinated with Irish culture. At Trinity College, he was introduced to the Irish language. In 1893, he published his first known poem, A College Miscellany. At that time, however, he was more of a violinist than a writer. Planning to become a musician, he traveled to Germany, living and studying at Coblenz and Wurzberg. Uncertainty over his future as a violinist led him back to Dublin in 1894, and then to the Sorbonne in Paris in 1895.

At the Sorbonne John Millington Synge studied languages and music, and it was in Paris that he met William Butler Yeats. Yeats encouraged Synge's creative talent and suggested he visit the Aran Islands. In 1897 Synge underwent an operation in Dublin for Hodgkins disease. A year later, he visited the Aran Islands, a remote island chain off the coast of Ireland. Amenities were few, the Roman Catholic locals spoke Gaelic and subsistence fishing and farming constituted local trade. It was as far from home that the Protestant-born Synge could travel and still remain in Ireland. The islands, along with folk tales of the inhabitants, were a source of great inspiration to the writer, who completed The Aran Islands (1907) after spending five summers there. Upon his return to the mainland, Synge began writing plays with the support of Yeats and Lady Gregory. 

His first dramas included Shadows of the Glen (1903), and Riders of the Sea (1904), both of which received criticism by Irish nationalists who saw the material as un-patriotic. Shadows was later among the first plays to be performed at The Abbey Theatre. Synge eventually joined Yeats and Lady Gregory as a director and the theater continued to showcase his work. The Wells of the Saints (1905) and his most famous play, Playboy of the Western World (1907), were performed at the Abbey and incurred nationalist criticism and even, in Playboy's case, riots. His final play, The Tinkers Wedding, opened in England in 1909 the same year that Hodgkins disease claimed his life (March 24th). His fiance, Molly Allgood, and William Butler Yeats completed Synge's Deirde of the Sorrows, also performed at the Abbey in 1910 with Molly playing the title role. But Synge's influence on Irish literature did not cease with his death. Samuel Beckett, one of many audience members who attended performances at Abbey Theatre, soon left his own mark on Irish literature, naming John Millington Synge as an influence.
 
http://www.samk.demon.co.uk/syngebi.htm
http://www.online-literature.com/synge/
http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/litlinks/drama/synge.htm

Articles About Synge, John Millington

John Millinton Synge and the Aran Isles

February 5, 2007

John Millington Synge, later author of The Playboy of the Western World, started out writing competent but prosaic works. Then he met with W.B. Yeats, who told him to go to the Aran Islands to seek inspiration. Once he followed this advice, Synge started immediately writing some of the finest dramas ever written about the traditional people of Ireland, Riders to the Sea and The Well of the Saints.