comes about that for generations the theatre may be left to craftsmen who can supply a little of the more, but who are strangers to literature, and whom life evades also. Synge did more than re-open the theatre to a drama that is literature. The dramatist of our day is faced, one thinks, by two principal difficulties, both difficulties of reconciliation. The first is, to give the reality of a life that is always complex and sometimes dull, in a speech that shall yet be living and capable of pleasure; the second is, to give this reality in a form that shall be at once comprehensive and natural. Synge did both these things, by the power of his own intense vision. He brought the theatre back to its first concern, with words; and he made it plain that there can be no fine drama without an unfailing care for form. In a distracted theatre, in which there is a perpetual running hither and thither, Synge remains, "like a star fixed, not moved with any thunder." His clear light, absolutely his own burns as steadfast as his Deirdre's, and it will as certainly continue to illumine the time to come. It would be difficult to name another contemporary whose perdurable qualities are more certain. Synge, like Goldsmith, "flowered late," in the phrase of Dr. Johnson; he died at the age when Molière was writing his first successful comedy. The bulk of his work is small ;

it may even be doubted whether he would have added very greatly to it, for the speech in which he chose to write had its own characteristic limitations—already he seemed to be going in some fear of repeating himself, and at his death his plans were rather for work other than dramatic. He spoke of putting the "Imitation of Christ" into the beautiful prose of his translations. If he had lived, he could not but have added to the number of his plays; and yet, in the six plays he has left us, what that is essential in life has he failed to include? Our mention, in making this study, has been of the greatest names, and not unsuitably; for, try as we will, in looking back over his work, we cannot be rid of the sense of his absolute achievement. Not width but intensity is the aim of art, said Wilde, in one of his accidental moments of true vision. Certainly, of all the arts, it is true of the dramatic.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1897-9. Contributions to "Kottebos,"-" New Ireland Review,"-Dublin "Daily Express."

1900. Contributions to London "Speaker."

1901-4.

Contributions to New York "Gael."
The Last Fortress of the Celt, April, 1901.
An Autumn Night in the Hills, April, 1903.
A Dream of Inishmaan, March, 1904.

1905. Contributions to "Manchester Guardian."
In the Congested Districts.

1905. In the Shadow of the Glen and Riders to the Sea. Vigo Cabinet Series, No. 24. London, Elkin Mathews.

1905. The Well of the Saints. With an Introduction by W. B. Yeats. Plays for an Irish Theatre, No. 4. London, A. H. Bullen.

1906-7. Contributions to "Shanachie.”

The Vagrants of Wicklow (No. 2); The People of the
Glens (No. 3); In West Kerry (No. 4); In West
Kerry-The Blasket Islands (No. 5); In West
Kerry-In Puck Fair (No. 6).

1907. The Playboy of the Western World: a comedy in three acts. Dublin, Maunsel & Co.

1907.

The Aran Islands: with drawings by Jack B. Yeats. Dublin, Maunsel; London, Elkin Mathews.

1907. The Playboy of the Western World: Theatre edition. Abbey Theatre Series, Vol. 10. Dublin, Maunsel & Co.

1907. The Tinker's Wedding: a comedy in two acts. Dublin, Maunsel & Co.

1909.

Poems and Translations. Churchtown, Cuala Press. 1910. Deirdre of the Sorrows: a play. Churchtown, Cuala Press.

1910. The Works of John M. Synge. Four volumes. (Definitive edition.) Dublin, Maunsel & Co.

1911. The Plays of John M. Synge. Four volumes. Pocket edition. Dublin, Maunsel & Co.

1912. The Works of John M. Synge. Five volumes. Library edition. (Including In Wicklow and West Kerry, with drawings by Jack B. Yeats.) Dublin, Maunsel & Co.

LIST OF PLAYS, WITH DATES OF

FIRST PERFORMANCE

1903. Oct. 8. In the Shadow of the Glen. At the Molesworth Hall, Dublin.

1904. Feb. 25. Riders to the Sea. At the Molesworth Hall, Dublin.

1905. Feb. The Well of the Saints. At the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.

1907. Jan. 26. The Playboy of the Western World. At the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.

1907. June. The Playboy of the Western World, etc. First performed in London; at the Great Queen Street Theatre.

1909. [Mar. 24. J. M. Synge died.]

1909. Nov. 11. The Tinker's Wedding. At His Majesty's Theatre, London (The Afternoon Theatre).

1910. Jan. 13. Deirdre of the Sorrows. At the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.

1911. Oct. The Playboy of the Western World, etc. First performed in United States of America.

WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD. PRINTERS, PLYMOUTH