Synge's First Love: Some South African Aspects

SYNGE'S FIRST LOVE: SOME SOUTH AFRICAN ASPECTS IN HIS DEFINITIVE BIOGRAPHY OF J. M. Synge1 Professor 'David Greene tells the story of the playwright's unrequited passion for Cherrie Matheson. The biographer is handicapped, however, by the scarcity of material relating to this episode in Synge's life: indeed, the diary and letters of Synge's mother appear to be the only source of information about the relationship and the possible reasons for Cherrie 's rejection of his proposal of marriage. Bearing these difficulties in mind, Professor Greene's description and interpretation are admirable . There are, however, certain inaccuracies in his account which I wish to correct, while giving a fuller portrait of the woman with whom Synge first fell in love. Synge's friendship for Miss Matheson is not merely of interest for its human appeal. In his life, as far as we know, Synge had only two major love affairs; both had a considerable influence on his work. The inspiration of his second love-Maire O'Neill, whom he first met in 1906-0n his last play, Deidre of the Sorrows, has long been recognized; but her influence on his poetry was equally pervasive, as we see in the recent Introduction to Synge's Poems (Vol. I, Collected Works, Oxford University Press, 196:.1) written by Robin Skelton: A great many of the poems Synge wrote from 1906 onwards were either about his love affair, or sent to his fiancee in letters. It is certain that she encouraged his work as a poet, and it may have been her encouragement which led him, in 1907, to contemplate the publication of some of his poems. Synge had not begun to write plays during the period that he was friendly with Cherrie Matheson, but her influence was notable in regard to his early poetic work. As Skelton says, "Wordsworth was still his favourite poet in 1894," and Synge's enthusiasm for his work was shared by Cherrie. Skelton writes of the playwright's love for Cherrie: It was this unhappy love affair, together with other, less certainly known, relationships which lay behind Synge's first attempt at a 1 David H. Greene and Edward M. Stephens. J. M. Synge I87I-I909 (New York. 1959)· 450 1964 SYNGE'S FIRST LOVE 451 poetic 'opus' of any size. This was Vita Vecchia, a series of poems linked together by a prose narrative in which Synge retold ina disguised form various of his experiences and yearnings. . . . Vita Vecchia was completed first in Paris, and can be regarded as central to Synge's poetic attitudes at this period. His friendship with Cherrie is thus seen to be a significant experience at a formative period of his life. Cherrie Matheson was born on October 12, 1870, and was thus six months older than Synge. Greene desecribes her as "short, plump, quick of gesture and remarkable for a brightness of manner which Synge found attractive." This description does not do justice to the lovely woman whom Synge knew. A photograph taken of her when she was twenty-six, in the year in which he proposed to her, shows her to have been a slim girl with delicate, sensitive features. She possessed a fine head of golden-brown hair, grey-green eyes, and a lovely fair complexion. She and Synge had first met in Greystones while he was on holiday there: her recollection of him as she remembered him at their first meeting was of a strongly built man with a rather thick neck and large head, a wonderful face with great luminous sad eyes, and though he was tanned from being constantly out of doors, there was a sort of pallor on his face that gave it a look of delicacy belying his figure, which was that of a hardy mountaineer. Yet, as Greene relates, the dramatist "had not got to know her well until her family moved [from GreystonesJ to Crosthwaite Park, three houses away from his." No doubt this is true. The two families, however , may have known each other casually for a short period before the meeting in Greystones. Before moving to the little seaside resort, the Matheson family had lived at...