Wise, Tender, and Witty Sayings: Truth

Wise, Tender, and Witty Sayings: Truth

Truth

This short piece of text by Olive Schreiner is incredibly beautiful, although somewhat hard to define. It initially interested me because what Schreiner writes is beautiful, but it doesn't fall into a specific genre. It's form doesn't quite fit prose, but it's not poetry, although the language certainly is poetic and expressive. It doesn't fit into the category of advise or an essay, but rather just seems like pieces of thought that Schreiner had and wrote onto the page, which I love. I found this intriguing to note in relation to "Dreams," because, even though "Dreams" is a short story, its format exists almost outside of the conventions of what short literary pieces are "supposed" to fit. This could correlate with the fact that Olive Schreiner was writing about and for the Women's Suffrage Movement which was fighting to break away from the conventions of traditional femininity, and instead claim a more equal place in society. Moreover, this text reminded me of the letter we read in class from Schreiner to Havelock Ellis, where she also discusses truth, writing, "I have come to the conclusion that only poetry is truth. That other forms are parts of truth, but as soon as a representation has all parts, then it is poetry". Clearly, both pieces discuss the concept of truth, and were written around the same time, with the letter dated 2nd November 1888, and the article published on June 22, 1889 (and I assume written at least a month or two prior to this date because of how newspapers work), showing us that this idea of truth was something that was important to Schreiner. Finally, I just want to note that the text directly below Schreiner's piece was written by George Eliot, aka Mary Ann Evans, another prominent writer, and powerful woman of this time period, showing that The Women's Penny Paper, the feminist magazine in which this was published was truly displaying extraordinary literature by women.

Schreiner, Olive

19th Century UK Periodicals. Series I and II: Accessed through the New York Public Library

Women's Penny Paper

June 22, 1889

The British Library

Magazine Article

It is difficult to narrow this piece down to one genre. For lack of a concrete term, I will call it a collection of cultivated thoughts.