In Thomas Hardy's poem "The Bridge of Lodi", in "Poems of the Past and the Present" (1901), about a visit to the site of Napoleon's early military success in Lodi, Lombardy, the speaker discovers that nobody there seems to know anything about that battle: "[...] wherefore should I be here, / Watching Adda lip the lea, / When the whole romance to see here / Is the dream I bring with me?" For me, this is an echo of one of Elizabeth Bishop's questions in the title poem of "Questions of Travel" (1965): ""Is it lack of imagination that makes us come / to imagined places, not just stay at home?" (Andrew Shields, #111words, 26 February 2026)

Note: Bishop’s poem is available online, but only on sites that I don’t like to link to. If you want to read it, I recommend — as a Bishop devotee — that you order a copy of her “Poems” and read all of them. Or check your local library and have them order it if they don’t have a copy!