‘‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ Celebrates Its Bicentennial

Santa Claus about to climb down a chimney, 1901, by William Birdsall. An illustration from “Beautiful gems from American writers and the lives and portraits of our favorite authors,” The Library of Congress. Public Domain

Exactly 200 years ago this week, a 56-line Christmas poem was published anonymously on Dec. 23 in the “Troy Sentinel.” The poem was an instant hit among readers, and was published in other works and attributed to “Anonymous.” Its official title was “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” but is better known as “'Twas the Night Before Christmas.”

The poem changed how people viewed Santa Claus (or St. Nicholas) and how they viewed Christmas altogether. Santa Claus is described as “dressed all in fur,” with “a bundle of toys … on his back,” “his cheeks … like roses,” “his nose like a cherry,” a beard “as white as snow,” “chubby and plump,” with “a little round belly that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.”

These descriptions are now synonymous with Ole St. Nick, but before, he was often viewed as a thin bearded man with a stern look. That perception, however, quickly changed after the 1823 poem, and thankfully so. A stern Santa Claus is hard to imagine, even though he possesses the “Nice and Naughty List.”

Crediting the Author

Fourteen years after the poem’s first appearance in print, Clement Clarke Moore, a theological scholar in New York, was credited as the author. Moore himself didn’t make a personal claim to the poem until 1844―21 years after initial publication. But how did that come about and why did it take so long?

According to Pamela McColl, author of “‘Twas the Night: The Art and History of the Classic Christmas Poem,” the poem was taken from the Moore house and sent to the newspaper without his permission.

Clement C. Moore, the author of "A Visit From St. Nicholas," 1897, engraved by J. W. Evans for the “Making of America.” Public Domain

“Moore was the father of six children at the time he wrote the poem. It is thought that he wrote it for his six-year-old daughter who had asked especially for a Christmas poem,” she said.

Although the poem is most known for its publication date, he had actually written the poem the year prior, supposedly on Dec. 24, 1822, while coming home. He had purchased turkey to fill the food baskets that he and his family would donate to the poor. According to the Library of Congress, his inspiration for St. Nicholas was the driver of his sleigh, a “plump, bearded Dutchman.”

Although Moore did write poetry, which was published in various periodicals, his work was often of the scholarly nature. He wrote “A Compendious Lexicon of the Hebrew Language” in two volumes, the biography “George Castriot, Surnamed Scanderbeg, King of Albania,” and he translated from French “A Complete Treatise on Merinos and Other Sheep.” Moore’s scholarship stemmed from his father, Benjamin Moore, who was fifth president of Columbia College (University). The senior Moore was the Episcopal bishop of New York and participated in George Washington’s first presidential inauguration. Interestingly, he also administered Alexander Hamilton’s last rites after the fatal duel with Aaron Burr.

Perhaps the poem’s lack of scholarly accomplishment caused Moore to demur regarding taking credit for the poem.

Nonetheless, according to McColl, Moore was practically forced to take credit after hearing that someone else was trying to, and after his friend Charles Hollman planned to include the poem in his “New York Book of Poetry.”

Author Controversy

Over the past few decades, there has been some controversy over who was the actual author. In 1999, the family of Maj. Henry Livingston Jr. claimed that their ancestor was the actual author. Livingston had died in 1828. The controversy caught the attention of Donald Foster, English professor at Vassar College. Foster first came onto the scene in 1996 with a front page “New York Times” article claiming to have solved the mystery of the authorship for “The Funeral Elegy”―the author was William Shakespeare. In 2000, he wrote his book “Author Unknown” in which he broke down the science behind his “literary forensics” with some of his famous cases, including Shakespeare, the Unabomber, and “Twas the Night Before Christmas.”

The book brought credence to the Livingston claim, and now there are two camps: Livingston and Moore. Was Foster correct? Perhaps. But Foster has been wrong before. His Shakespeare claim proved to be false, which he was convinced of after further investigation. (He also claimed that Dr. Steven Hatfill was the author of the “anthrax letters” in the fall of 2001, which proved to be false.)

According to McColl, the Livingston claim “is conjecture and family lore started 60 years after the poem first appeared. Moore claimed it was his, signed his name to it.” She added that there is also Moore’s reputation for high moral character and honesty to consider as evidence for his claim.

McColl has been on a mission to permanently meld Moore and the poem together. Through her efforts, the poem, with Moore as the author, appears to be heading to the New York Library Hall of Fame.

“I wrote to the New York Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Library of Congress, which got the ball rolling and they voted on my nomination after other people had seconded my nomination,” she said.

“The Night Before Christmas,” 1915, by Arthur Rackham for Clement C. Moore’s famous poem. Public Domain

One thing is for certain,  “'Twas the Night Before Christmas” is arguably the most consequential holiday poem, at least in American history. Ever since the poem was published two centuries ago, Santa Claus has been given shape and a face, as well as “eight tiny reindeer,” along with their famous names. Moore’s poem has been the foundation for other artists―writers and painters alike―to build upon.

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