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    Riders To The Sea: “A man who is not afraid of the sea will soon be drownded, for he will be going out on a day he shouldn't. But WE do be afraid of the sea, and we do only be drownded now and again.”
    Riders To The Sea: “A man who is not afraid of the sea will soon be drownded, for he will be going out on a day he shouldn't. But WE do be afraid of the sea, and we do only be drownded now and again.”
    Riders To The Sea: “A man who is not afraid of the sea will soon be drownded, for he will be going out on a day he shouldn't. But WE do be afraid of the sea, and we do only be drownded now and again.”
    Ebook123 pages19 minutes

    Riders To The Sea: “A man who is not afraid of the sea will soon be drownded, for he will be going out on a day he shouldn't. But WE do be afraid of the sea, and we do only be drownded now and again.”

    By J. M. Synge

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    About this ebook

    Riders to the Sea is a one-act tragedy by the Irish playwright John Millington Synge. It was first performed in Dublin in the very beginning of the twentieth century. The play portrays the simple life of rural Ireland, but also pictures the Irish people’s struggles with the furious sea which is presented as both a provider of food and a destroyer of life. The protagonist, Maurya, who has lost almost all the male members of her family, begs her last remaining son Bartley not to sail to Connemara. After being blamed by her two daughters for sending their brother without blessing his voyage, the mother follows him and gives him her blessings though bitterly knowing that she is losing her last son. By and large, the play emphasizes the Irish people’s struggle with destiny and death and depicts them as tenacious and life-loving. Indeed, although the play is rather apolitical, it challenges the colonial stereotype of the uncivilized and uncultured people. Through allusions to Ireland’s long history and deeply-rooted traditions, the English colonization of the country seems to be reduced to an insignificant stage compared to the majestic edifice that the Irish identity represents.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherA Word To The Wise
    Release dateAug 20, 2013
    ISBN9781780008424
    Riders To The Sea: “A man who is not afraid of the sea will soon be drownded, for he will be going out on a day he shouldn't. But WE do be afraid of the sea, and we do only be drownded now and again.”

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      Book preview

      Riders To The Sea - J. M. Synge

      RIDERS TO THE SEA

      by J. M. SYNGE

      INTRODUCTION

      It must have been on Synge’s second visit to the Aran Islands that he had the experience out of which was wrought what many believe to be his greatest play.  The scene of Riders to the Sea is laid in a cottage on Inishmaan, the middle and most interesting island of the Aran group.  While Synge was on Inishmaan, the story came to him of a man whose body had been washed up on the far away coast of Donegal, and who, by reason of certain peculiarities of dress, was suspected to be from the island.  In due course, he was recognised as a native of Inishmaan, in exactly the manner described in the play, and perhaps one of the most poignantly vivid passages in Synge’s book on The Aran Islands relates the incident of his burial.

      The other element in the story which Synge introduces into the play is equally true.  Many tales of second sight are to be heard among Celtic races.  In fact, they are so common as to arouse little or no wonder in the minds of the people.  It is just such a tale, which there seems no valid reason for doubting, that Synge heard, and that gave the title, Riders to the Sea, to his play.

      It is the dramatist’s high distinction that he has simply taken the materials which lay ready to his hand, and by the power of sympathy woven them, with little modification,

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