Nostalgia and Poetry

[haroldg529]

I was just wallowing in a mood of deep nostalgia when I decided, quite by chance, to look up some information on William Wordsworth, the Lakeland Poet.
In particular, my mind became filled with :-
For oft when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude.
And then my heart with pleasure fills
And dances with the daffodils.

Having trudged around the English Lake District so much in my younger days I find those words quite pungent.

[mono]

A very beautiful poem to reflect on, I agree. I think I could never quite grow weary of the Romantic poets, including William Wordsworth.
Welcome to the forum, harldg529. :)

[Sitaram]

In college, I studied ancient Greek, and translated some of Homer's Odyssey. The word "nostalgia" is a Greek word which was used by Homer. You will recognize the "algia" part in pharmaceutical words like "analgesic"... the "algos" part means "pain", the "nos" part means "home" so.... it means painful thoughts of home ....

An even neater trick with Greek.... Psych means soul, logos means reason, pathos means suffering.... put them all together and "psychopathology" means finding the reason for the suffering of the soul...