The Poem that Shaped the Holiday
Clement Clarke Moore is credited with writing one of the most delightful and enduring pieces of American verse ever published, “A Visit from Saint Nicholas,” now popularly known as its first lines, “'Twas the Night Before Christmas.” First published anonymously in a Troy, New York Newspaper on December 23, 1823, it was many years before Moore would claim authorship and that authorship has been seriously challenged as recently as 2000. The poem itself has influenced the celebration of Christmas the world over and will likely do so for many generations to come.
There's a few reasons for this, some obvious, others not so obvious. While chimneys have gone the way of an extinct species and having warm, dry socks is not such a difficult task anymore, the tradition of filling Christmas stockings will not be going away anytime soon. While the nocturnal visitation wasn't unique in tradition about Santa Claus, the specific imagery of the sleigh, reindeer (flying no less) and toypack was very new and has not been replaced or much modified in nearly 200 years of Christmas celebrations. The relative tranquility and close family bonds between parents and children are never directly stated but resonate everywhere through the stanzas. The poem itself has been a reading tradition in countless households with school aged children and is easily handed from one generation to the next without a bunch of logistics; a book, a reading voice and five minutes of time. And what's not to like about a guy who breaks into your house and leaves toys? With this verse, there's no menace; the world makes beautiful sense.
While Moore would not make a direct claim to authorship (some claim at his children's insistence) until a volume of his poetry was published in 1840, areferenceto him as author in a compiled work exists as early as 1837. Daughter, Mary C. Ogden would illustrate one of the earliest published versions and some slight word changes (porch to stoop, and reindeers Donder to Donner, and Blixem to Blixen) appear in later printings. While not in the poem itself, the red suit, sleigh bells and Christmas trees would all be added to the imagery in successive volumes by illustrators.
Donald Foster, a professor at Vassar, has made a convincing argument that Moore never wrote the poem, compared to his otherwritings, and that the work is likely that of Henry Livingston a distant in-law, who was known to publish anonymously. Given Moore's lack of sentimentality in his public and private life as well as the literary analysis and the fact that Livingston died in 1828, he may very well be correct. Regardless of the truth, the legend will bear out, and it will be an enduring one for a very, very long time. Happy Christmas to all...
