Sage writing is a development from ancient wisdom literature in which the writer chastises and instructs the reader about contemporary social issues, often utilising discourses of philosophy, history, politics, and economics in non-technical ways.
Prominent examples of the genre include writings by Thomas Carlyle, Matthew Arnold, John Ruskin, and Henry David Thoreau.
[1] Holloway constructed the concept as a means to rediscover the value of Victorian writers, who had been denigrated by Modernists for their prolixity and moralizing.
[2] Carlyle established a model whereby the writer makes non-logical arguments about contemporary social issues, drawing from various forms of modern knowledge and traditional wisdom.
"[3] The sage borrows from the Old Testament prophets what Landow identifies as a four-part strategy of "interpretation, attack upon the audience (or those in authority), warning, and visionary promise.