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Paa Memphis Station

The Danish author and Nobel-price winner Johannes V. Jensen (1873-1950) published in 1904 a famous poem “Paa Memphis Station” (On the Memphis Railway Station). The poem is referring to his voyage through the USA in 1903, where his train in Memphis was waiting for a delayed incoming freight train to make the single track line free. None of the modern railway stations in Memphis were built at the time. We know from other sources that Johannes V. Jensen was traveling South bound from Chicago. Therefore he has been travelling with the Illinois Central Railroad company. The train might have been waiting on Calhoun Street Station, Memphis, which in 1903 was serving the North-South railway traffic. The poem tells that Johannes V. Jensen was spending five hours in the waiting hall. Old photos shows that Calhoun Street Station was a two-story red brick building. It was demolished in 1912 to make space for the majestic Grand Central Station, today a luxury hotel of the same name.

 

First verse of “Paa Memphis Station” in English translation: "Half-awake and half-dozing, / in an inward seawind of danaid dreams / I stand and gnash my teeth / at Memphis Station, Tennessee. / It is raining".

November 23nd 2024

 

 
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