The one ironclad rule is that I have to try. I have to walk into my writing room and pick up my pen every weekday morning
Anne TylerRead
It’s like the grief has been covered over with some kind of blanket. It’s still there, but the sharpest edges are .. muffled, sort of. Then, ever now and then, I lift the corner of the blanket just to check, and .. whoa! Like a knife! I’m not sure that will ever change.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Grief can diminish in intensity but never truly disappears, lingering beneath the surface.
This quote by Anne Tyler captures the complex nature of grief, suggesting that although the pain may be dulled over time, it remains an ever-present part of one's emotional landscape. The metaphor of a blanket signifies the ways we cope with loss, shielding us from its sharpness, but the occasional lifting of the blanket reveals that the underlying sorrow still has the power to cut deeply, indicating that healing from grief is often a non-linear and ongoing process.
Themes
GriefLossEmotionsHealingPainCoping
In practice
Example use cases
In a eulogy, one might say, 'As Anne Tyler beautifully put it, grief is like a blanket that dulls the pain but remains ever-present.'
More from Anne Tyler
All quotes →I don't know what takes more courage: surviving a lifelong endurance test because you once made a promise or breaking free, disrupting all your world.
Anne TylerRead
I just want to be told a story, and I want to believe I'm living that story, and I don't give a thought to influences or method or any other writerly concerns
Anne TylerRead
I do write long, long character notes - family background, history, details of appearance - much more than will ever appear in the novel. I think this is what lifts a book from that early calculated, artificial stage.
Anne TylerRead
It seems to me that since I've had children, I've grown richer and deeper. They may have slowed down my writing for a while, but when I did write, I had more of a self to speak from.
Anne TylerRead
And she thought what a clean, simple life she would have led if it weren't for love.
Anne TylerRead
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