Edmund John Millington Synge was born on April 16, 1871 in Co. Dublin. He was the youngest out of seven children, and was exposed to many sicknesses as a child that impacted Synge’s health in later years. His father died of smallpox in 1872. Because of his frequent absences from school due to sickness, Synge was educated by a private tutor. He received a private education as a child where he studied piano, flute, and violin, and he also developed an interest in Darwin and science around the age of 14.

Synge’s mother was a deeply religious protestant woman, and Synge continued to read the Bible only to please her. Synge lost his religious faith and began to take an interest in folklore, theosophy, and magic. Synge’s nephew Edward Synge said "his growing interest in dreams, premonitions, and visions helped him to understand the lore of the country people.”

In 1889 Synge entered Trinity College and studied Irish with the Reverend James Goodman, “an amiable old clergyman who made him read a crabbed version of the New Testament.” He was also educated in Hebrew and joined the Trinity orchestra. He graduated in 1892.

Synge moved to Germany to study music in 1893 with his mother and a cousin. He composed piano and violin pieces there. He returned to Ireland in June of 1894, and on the first of January, 1895, Synge moved to Paris. At the Sorbonne he studied literature and languages, joined the debate society, and wrote literary criticism. He stayed in Paris for many years, visiting Ireland in the summers. On one such trip, Synge met the American Cherrie Matheson. He proposed to her in 1895 and 1896, but she refused both times.

In December of 1896 Synge met his compatriot, William Butler Yeats, in Paris. Yeats persuaded Synge to spend time on the Aran Islands and then return to Dublin.

The Aran Islands proved to be a great inspiration to Synge. His play Riders to the Sea is based on an experience he had watching a community mourn over the death of a fisherman in 1900. In the summer of 1901 the first three sections of The Aran Islands were written. At this time, Synge was very poor. By 1902 Synge was living on a wage of 40 pounds a year and The Aran Islands was rejected by two publishers.

However, he moved in with his mother in Wicklow. There he wrote The Shadow of the Glen, Riders to the Sea, and The Tinker’s Wedding. The first two plays drew attention from Yeats and Lady Gregory, who wanted Synge’s plays for the National Theatre. Shadow was poorly received, but Riders to the Sea received a favorable response at its opening in February of 1904.

In 1905 Synge joined Yeats and Gregory as a director of the Irish National Theatre Company. As director, he met a lot of actors and actresses, among which was Molly Allgood. Synge immediately fell in love with her. He wrote the part of Pegeen Mike of Playboy of the Western World, with Allgood in mind to play her.

Playboy debuted in January 26, 1907 to mixed reviews. The audience enjoyed the first two acts, but the world “shift” in the third act prompted uproar. Those who did not enjoy this play, because it was perceived as an attack on the Irish national image, were Maud Gonne and Patrick Pearse.

Synge’s next play, Deirdre of the Sorrows, was never finished. His neck glands irritated him, and in September of 1907, Synge had them removed. An April 1908 examination of his neck found an inoperable tumor. He was not told of the fatality of the disease. In the beginning of 1909, Synge entered the Elpis Nursing Home and died on March 23, 1909.

Yeats, Gregory, and Allgood finished Synge’s Deirdre and performed it at the Abbey theatre on January 13, 1910, with Allgood taking the role of Deirdre.