“’Twas the Night Before Christmas” is the popularly known title of a poem actually published in 1823 as “Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas” before transforming into its longtime official title “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” That publication was anonymous, credited to no named author at all in any way and it was only in 1837 that Clement Moore first laid claim to the credit of being its composer. Ever since, for most of its history—and even to today—there was little argument or controversy over the authorship question despite this time lag.
With the dawn of the internet, however, this is no longer the case. Moore’s claim to being the poet behind what is without question the most iconic literary portrait of Santa Claus in his American incarnation remains under question as issues casting aspersions upon his being the author have yet to be resolved and reconcile with the known facts. The great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter of poet Henry Livingston, Jr. has been the strongest voice of the critique of Moore’s authorship and her tireless dedication has led to very serious consideration that he is the actual writer of the poem.
Recent inquiries into the issue include the books Who Wrote The Night Before Christmas? Analyzing the Clement Clarke Moore vs. Henry Livingston Question by Australian English professor MacDonald Jackson and Author Unknown by his American counterpart, Donald Foster. For more information on this aspect of the poem check out the website operated by Livington’s descendants.
What does it matter who wrote the poem? Ultimately, to most people, absolutely nothing. In a larger sense, however, this is the work of creative imagination which has done more to situate the modern mythic aspect of Christmas more than anything else with only Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and the original Santa Claus design created for the artwork by Coca-Cola having any argument to the contrary. It is not often that such powerful origin stories of mythic figures can be traced back to a single source. In this sense, the question of who wrote this poem of many names becomes one of the most important unresolved literary mysteries of our time.
