A Visit From St. Nicholas by

Illustration of Santa Claus

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-21 15:40:39 UTC

Harper's Weekly publishes Thomas Nast's illustration of Santa Claus in 1863, based off of the description in Moore's poem.

First Published

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-21 15:41:30 UTC

Moore's friend published the poem anonymously in The Sentinel of Troy, New York in December of 1823.

Acknowledgement of Authorship

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-21 15:42:06 UTC

Moore first acknowledges authorship of this poem by including it in his own book of poems in 1844.

Attributed to Moore

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-21 15:42:58 UTC

The novel was first attributed to Moore in print in 1837.

Reputation

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-21 15:45:54 UTC

Moore was known as a scholarly professor (he was the professor of classics at the General Theological Seminary in NYC), which was why he did not want to have any connection to his authorship of the poem until 1844. He was also perceived by critics at the time as being a "dour, straitlaced academician."

First Recitation

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-21 16:06:45 UTC

Moore wrote the poem for his own children and recited it to them on Christmas Eve 1822.

Establishing Santa's Role

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-21 16:19:36 UTC

Before Moore, the legend surrounding Santa Claus was ill-defined. It was in this poem where the role of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve is more clearly established.

The Night Before Christmas (1968)

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-21 16:26:15 UTC

The Night Before Christmas, a 1968 made-for-television animated special.

The Night Before Christmas (1905)

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-22 14:13:13 UTC

The Night Before Christmas is a film made in 1905 directed by Edwin S. Porter made for the Edison Manufactoring Company

Christmas Eve on Sesame Street (1978)

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-22 20:21:48 UTC

In Current Times

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-25 04:37:22 UTC

While A Visit from St. Nicholas may almost be 200 years old, it still commands the attention of several scholars in today's time and still, almost 200 years later, nothing but good thoughts and opinions are to be said.

Ruth MacDonald states that The Night Before Christmas "changed the course of American celebrations of Christmas and the image Americans had of the merry saint associated with that holiday."

Jack Grambling describes the response to the poem as "overwhelming" and describes how "it was published every year for the next twenty-one years in virtually every important newspaper, magazine and almanac of the day."

Raymond Schuesser discusses Moore's fame and how "paradoxically, it was not his scholarly writings but the simplest of poems that made him famous."

Owen Edwins describes the poem as "instantly popular" and Santa's portrayal as a "symbol of the season—a ‘chubby and plump...right jolly old elf.’”

X. J. Kennedy shows how "Moore combines the figure of St. Nicholas with that of Kriss Kringle, who (in Norwegian lore) helped the saint by driving a reindeer-drawn sleigh. Moore fires Kriss, leaving St. Nick to do his own driving. The result is our American Santa Claus… Thomas Nast, our most authoritative Santa Claus delineator, stuck closely to Moore's description, and ever since, few artists have dared depart from it."

All scholarly writings, and all wonderful praise for A Visit from St. Nicholas.

Clement Clarke Moore

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-25 21:34:30 UTC

He was born on July 15, 1779 in New York.

Clement Clarke Moore

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-25 21:35:27 UTC

He died on July 10, 1863.

Works Cited and Further Reading

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-26 03:05:52 UTC

Apseloff, Marilyn F. “Clement Clarke Moore.” Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. Web. 1 Dec 2013.

Edwards, Owen. “A Mischievous St. Nick from the American Art Museum.” Smithsonian, Dec 2011: n. pag. Web. 1 Dec 2013.

Gramling, Jack. "The Story Behind St. Nicholas' Visit." Child Life Nov 2005: 17. ProQuest. Web. 1 Dec 2013.

Kennedy, X.J. “The Man Who Hitched a Reindeer to Santa Claus’s Sleigh.” The New York Times, Dec 1993: n. pag. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

MacDonald, Ruth K. "Santa Claus in America: The Influence of ‘The Night Before Christmas.’" Children's Literature Association Quarterly 8.3 (1983): 4-6. Project MUSE. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

Marcus, Leonard S. "'Twas the Night before Christmas/ the Night before Christmas / was that Christmas?" New York Times Book Review Dec 8 2002: 76,7.76. ProQuest. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

Margulis, Marlyn Irvin. "'Twas the Night before Christmas." Antiques & Collecting Magazine 12 2002: 24-9. ProQuest. Web. 1 Dec 2013

O’Bar, William M. “Advertising and Christmas.” Advertising and Society Review (2006): n. pag. Web. 1 Dec 2013.

Pflieger, Pat. “Clement Clarke Moore and ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas.’” Merrycoz.org. 2001. Web. 1 Dec 2013.

“Saint Nicholas and the Origin of Santa Claus.” St. Nicholas Center. St. Nicholas Center, 2002. Web. 1 Dec 2013.

Schuessler, Raymond. "Clement Moore And The Night Before Christmas." Early American Homes 28.6 (1997): 5. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.

“The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent- Christmas.” Telelib.com. N.d. Web. 1 Dec 2013.

Image Sources:

Reciting the Poem:

http://www.nightbeforechristmas.biz/images/1822eve_lg.jpg

Clement Clarke Moore:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/The_Author_of_'A_Visit_from_St._Nicholas'_-_Clement_C._Moore_crop.png

Original Copy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A_Visit_From_St._Nicholas,_by_Clement_C_Moore.jpg

Thomas Nast St. Nicholas:

http://anthonyuu.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/the-uu-top-ten-number-3/

Moore's Book:

http://heritagebookshop.com/photos/images/65100_Moore_06a.jpg

Perry Como:

http://kokomo.ca/images/1953RCA_around_christmas_tree_185.jpg

Christmas with the Chipmunks:

http://www.vinylvendors.com/Pictures/c/h/chipmunks393827.jpg

The Night Before Christmas (1968):

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101129054642/christmasspecials/images/1/1d/NightBeforeXmas1968.jpg

Louis Armstrong:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5197JgJCvmL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Sesame Street:

http://static1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110125191451/muppet/images/7/7b/Album.merryxmasfromss.jpg

Perry Como - Around the Christmas Tree

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-26 03:11:06 UTC

"Twas the Night Before Christmas" recorded by Perry Como in 1953.

Louis Armstrong - Christmas Through the Years

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-26 03:13:41 UTC

"The Night Before Christmas" recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1971.

Dave Seville - Christmas with the Chipmunks Vol.2

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-26 03:15:28 UTC

"The Night Before Christmas" recorded by Dave Seville in 1963.

Twas the Night Before Easter... (2001)

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-26 03:22:32 UTC

Peggy C. Bohanan writes "Twas the Night Before Easter", a parody of the poem involving Easter rather than Christmas. It starts off like this:

Twas the night before Easter on Internet Lane;

From New York, to Russia, spring Holidaze reigned!

Computers were linking from Disney to space;

And folks were resolving the Easter Egg case!

Natasha Wing "The Night Before"

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-26 03:33:13 UTC

Natasha Wing wrote a series of more than 15 children's books that spoof the poem.

A Programmers Night Before Christmas (2004)

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-26 03:41:18 UTC

A simple parody involving programming language. It starts a little something like this:

T ‘was the nite before implementation and all through the house

Not a program was working, not even a browse.

The programmers hung by their tubes in despair,

With hopes that a miracle soon would be there.

The users were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of inquiries danced in their heads.

Mad Libs Version of Twas The Night Before Christmas with Jimmy Fallon

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-26 03:51:43 UTC

"Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring , not even a swiffer.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that Rob Carew soon would be there."

Awards

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-26 15:57:20 UTC

Seventh Book Award
Mom's Choice Award
Benjamin Franklin Book Awards
Moonbeam Children's Book Gold Award
Gold at the Global International Ebook Awards
...and more

The Poem's Original Reception

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-26 20:48:26 UTC

According to Pat Pfleiger, after it was first published, “At least four newspapers reprinted the poem within three weeks of its first appearance. It was hugely popular with editors in Philadelphia: four almanacs reprinted the poem in 1824, and it was part of Saint Nicholas’s book, for all good boys and girls—also called Kriss Kringle’s Book—which Thomas, Cowperthwait, & Co. collected in 1842.”

The only early criticism of the poem was that some people claimed that it was in fact written by Henry Livingston Jr instead of Clement Clarke Moore. This theory has never been widely accepted due to it's inconclusive evidence, however, so most still agree that Clement Clarke Moore is the true author.

As Leonard S Marcus of the New York Times explains, “Long attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, who laid claim to its authorship in 1844, the poem may have instead been the work of a Hudson Valley gentleman-poet, Henry Livingston Jr. As reported in this paper two years ago, a range of biographical and textual evidence amassed by Don Foster, a Vassar English professor and literary detective, points plausibly, if inconclusively, that way. We may never know for sure.”

Moore's Inspiration

lrdudley2 — 2013-11-26 21:02:13 UTC

A lot of Moore's inspiration came from Washington Irving as the two were good friends.

Moore drew from Washington Irving's The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.- Christmas (1919-1920) where Irving describes a traditional English Christmas that he observed from his travels there.

Moore was also influenced by Washington Irving's A History of New York. Moore used Irving's image of St. Nicholas as a pipe-smoking elf with a round belly from this piece. This together with A Visit from St. Nicholas helped to create a more domestic Christmas with the current Santa Claus traditions.

Some also say that Moore was inspired to write his famous poem on a Christmas shopping trip where he was in a sleigh and heard holiday bells ringing.