A Visit from St. Nicholas
The poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas", which is also known as "The Night Before Christmas" from its first line, and first published in 1823, is largely responsible for the contemporary American conception of Santa Claus. This includes his appearance, the night he visits, his method of transportation, the number and names of his reindeer, and that he brings toys to children. Prior to the poem, American ideas about St. Nicholas and other Christmastide visitors varied considerably.
Literary history
The poem was first published anonymously in the Troy, New York Sentinel on December 23, 1823, and was reprinted frequently thereafter with no name attached. Authorship was later attributed to Clement Clarke Moore and the poem was included in an anthology of his works, but his connection with the verses has been questioned by some. Moore's wife was of Dutch descent, being a descendant of the Van Cortlandt family via her mother. She shared bloodlines with Henry Livingston Jr. and Clement Clarke Moore's family was married into the Livingston family as well. Henry Livingston, a New Yorker with Dutch and Scottish roots, is the chief candidate for authorship if Moore did not write it.
In An American Anthology, 1787–1900, Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed., reprinted the Moore version of the poem, including the German spelling of "Donder and Blitzen" he adopted, rather than the earlier Dutch version from 1823, "Dunder and Blixem." Both phrases translate as "Thunder and Lightning" in English, though the German word for thunder is actually "Donner," and the words in modern Dutch would be "Donder en Bliksem."
Today, some printings alter the grammar and spelling of the poem and replace somewhat archaic words, such as ere, with ones more familiar to modern readers. The final line, originally written as "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night," has been changed in many editions to "Merry Christmas to all," in accord with the standard Christmas greeting current in the United States.
Original copies
Four hand-written copies of the poem are known to exist, and three are in museums. The fourth copy, written out and signed by Clement Clarke Moore as a gift to a friend in 1860, was sold by one private collector to another in December, 2006. According to Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries, which brokered the private sale, it was purchased for $280,000 U.S. by an unnamed "chief executive officer of a media company" who resides in Manhattan. Newswire reports at the time made no mention of the authorship controversy.[1]
Authorship controversy
Evidence to support Moore as author
- "Professor Moore" is credited as author in the December 25, 1837 Pennsylvania Inquirer and Daily Courier.
- Moore claimed the poem in 1844. This was at the request of his children. He had preferred to be known for more scholarly works.
- Moore may have had access to A History of New York by "Dietrich Knickerbocker" (Washington Irving) which covers the story of Sinterklaas.
- Moore and Irving were members of the same literary society in New York City and were friends.
- Although some say Moore falsely claimed authorship once before, this has since been challenged.[2] He signed a book as a gift, as one dedicates a book they give to another person. He did not claim authorship. Document historian Seth Kallar has answered this charge and other related arguments.[2]
- Rev. David Butler, who allegedly showed the poem to Sentinel editor Orville L. Holley, was a relative of Moore's.
- A letter to Moore from the publisher states "I understand from Mr. Holley that he received it from Mrs. Sackett, the wife of Mr. Daniel Sackett who was then a merchant in this city."
- Although Moore wrote darker poems, Nissenbaum argues that it could have been a social satire of the Victorianization of Christmas.
Evidence to support Livingston as author
- Moore "tried at first to disavow" the poem.[3]
- Use of anapaestic rhyme scheme and metre consistent with Livingston.
- Use of Dutch "Dunder and Blixem" - Livingston's mother was Dutch.
- Phraseology consistent with other Livingston poems.
- Livingston wrote cheerful poems, Moore typically more miserable ones.
- Moore is known to have falsely taken credit as a book's translator.[4]
- Moore claimed that only two changes were introduced in the first printing, yet it differs from his own on 23 points.
Adaptations and Parodies
Being a very well-known poem, there are many parodies of A Visit from St. Nicholas.[5] Most of the parodies that can be found on the Internet are intended to be humorous, or satirical.
- In the Garfield comic strips published during the week of December 19-24, 1983, the text of the poem was drawn above scenes of Garfield acting out the part of the narrator.
- In the Luann comic strip, Luann's dad has read The Night Before Christmas to the wife and kids, and when he reads the verse 'Away to the window I flew like a flash, tore open the shutters, and threw up the sash', he leaves out 'the sash', providing great merriment to Luann and her brother Brad.
- In A Muppet Family Christmas, the Muppets from Sesame Street perform a play based on the poem, with Ernie narrating and Bert as Mamma. The monsters appear as the reindeer, with the Two-Headed Monster as Santa (and Grover as the mouse who is not stirring).
- Episode 55 of Animaniacs featured a skit titled "The Day Before Christmas," in which Ralph the Guard is given the task of delivering Yakko, Wakko, and Dot's Christmas presents. The short is presented as a bedtime story told by Slappy Squirrel to her nephew Skippy and is narrated in the poetic form as the original story. This cartoon was adapted into comic book form in a special comic book published by DC Comics in October 1994.
- The Histeria! episode "The Return of the American Revolution" featured a sketch about George Washington's famous trip across the Delaware River, narrated in the poem's fashion.
- The Tim Burton 1993 stop-action film The Nightmare Before Christmas is a parody on the title.
- In "'Twas the Night Before Christmas", a short animated TV movie from 1974 by Rankin/Bass, the characters and portions of the plot are loosely based on the poem.
- In the FoxTrot strip published on December 24, 1998, Roger and Andy are shown reading the poem in bed when they suddenly hear the kids sneaking downstairs. Roger comments that the poem was "surely written by someone who never had kids".
- The comedy musical 'Twas the Night by Lani Brockman and Susan Bardsley is based on the poem.
- In the web comic Ctrl+Alt+Del a series of comics titled a "A Winter-Een-Mas Story" parodies with poems about the spirits of Winter-een-mas.
- In the Dave Van Ronk song "Yas Yas Yas" the poem is parodied in the verse " twas the night before christmas, all was quiet in the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse, when from the lawn there came a big crash. It was Father Christmas landing on his yas yas yas."
- In the movie Die Hard, Theo alerts his friends to the SWAT team's arrival with the opening line of this poem.[6]
- "Trosclair", Cajun Night Before Christmas, 20th Anniversary edition, Pelican Publishing Co., 1992, No. ISBN 0-882-89940-6.
- The Internet Engineering Task Force's Request for Comments has a poem about the start up of the internet titled "Twas the night before Start-up."[7]
- On Laurie Z.'s 2001 recording 'Heart of the Holidays,' actor Jack Palance narrates the poem.
Other works
- Donald Foster (professor), Author Unknown: On the Trail of Anonymous, Henry Holt, New York, 2000, No. ISBN 0-8050-6357-9.
- Martin Gardner, The Annotated Night Before Christmas: A Collection Of Sequels, Parodies, And Imitations Of Clement Moore's Immortal Ballad About Santa Claus; Edited, with an introduction and notes, by Martin Gardner, Summit Books, 1991, No. ISBN 0-671-70839-2.
- Nissenbaum, Stephen, The Battle for Christmas: A Social and Cultural History of Christmas that Shows How It Was Transformed from an Unruly Carnival Season into the Quintessential American Family Holiday, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1997, No. ISBN 0-679-41223-9.
External links
Citations
- [1] ''Copy of Poem Sold; 'Twas Worth $280K'' December 19, 2006 Associated Press report published in, inter alia, Washington Post. Accessed January 18, 2007.
- [2] ''Ho, Ho, Hoax.'' December 1, 2006. Scarsdale Magazine. Accessed January 18, 2007.
- [3] ''Clement Moore Revisited.'' 1982 by Peter Christoph (of New York State Library in Albany.) Accessed January 17, 2007.
- [4] ''Literary Sleuth Casts Doubt on the Authorship of an Iconic Christmas Poem.'' October 26, 2000 New York Times. Accessed January 18, 2007.
- [5] ''With Apologies to Clement C. Moore...'' undated in About: Urban Legends and Folklore. Accessed January 18, 2007.
- [6] ''Memorable Quotes from "Die Hard"''. Internet Movie Database. Accessed January 18, 2007.
- [7] ''Twas the Night Before Start-up'' by Vint Cerf, December 1985. Published at website of Internet Engineering Task Force. Accessed January 18, 2007.