"...Suffering is one very long moment. We cannot divide it by seasons. We can only record its moods and chronicle their return."
It is the beginning of Wilde's letter. His suffering is what he is going to talk about further on. He is faced with his own emotions and dealing with them brings deep sorrow to him. He is aware of himself, he is aware that he lived his life hating and running away from suffering and sorrow. Now that he is faced with it he is looking at life and art differently. He realizes that true beauty of art lies in the sorrow and suffering leads to complete self-awareness. The word moment is the key in these lines; suffering is a moment, despite being a long moment, it is moment nevertheless and doesn't last forever.
"I ceased to be lord over myself. I was no longer the captain of my soul, and did not know it."
Wilde talks about living his life recklessly and only seeking his own pleasure without regards to anything else. In the process he completely lost himself and forgot the true meaning of love, life and beauty of art. The solitude and sorrow of being in prison brought self-reflection upon him. He realizes that he lost his individualism and the ownership of his soul, as he puts it, because he was escaping from that which makes one a complete individualist and in complete control of oneself.
"Now I find hidden somewhere away in my nature something that tells me that nothing in the whole world is meaningless, and suffering least of all. That something hidden away in my nature, like a treasure in a field, is Humility."
Wilde is aware of the meaning that comes with his suffering which is self-discovery. He realized a completely new side of himself that he wasn't aware of before. It is this humility that he believes makes him content with himself and aware of himself. He no longer feels that he has to be wrapped up in purple linen to be happy with himself.
