Riders to the Sea

by J. M. Synge

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Pages: 18

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About this book

A bundle of clothing brings troubling news into a cottage on an island off Ireland's west coast. Cathleen and Nora examine a shirt and stocking recovered from a drowned man, searching for signs that they belonged to their brother Michael. Their mother, Maurya, is already anxious about the sea, while her son Bartley prepares to take horses to a fair despite the rising wind.

J. M. Synge builds this one-act tragedy from domestic work, urgent conversation and the small objects through which a family recognises loss. Baking, spinning, rope and knitted stitches make the household tangible as fear presses against its ordinary routines. The speech carries the rhythms of island life, with prayers and practical concerns closely joined. Readers interested in Irish drama will find a concentrated play about a mother's fears and a community whose livelihood depends on dangerous water.

About the author

J. M. Synge

John Millington Synge (1871-1909) was an Irish playwright and poet at the heart of the Irish Literary Revival and the Abbey Theatre. He built his plays from the speech and lives of country people in the west of Ireland, producing a small body of work that reshaped modern drama.