The Night Before Christmas: A Question of Authorship

Although Clement Clarke Moore has been credited as the author of that most famous Christmas poem since 1844 when he included it in his book of poems, the author of this poem might be Major Henry Livingston, Jr.

The story about the search for the true author of the poem is a fascinating one. It seems the ancestors of the late Henry Livingston have always known that their relative had penned the poem, and they have been trying for many decades to prove it. Then along came Mary Van Deusen, a 5th great-granddaughter of Livingston. Van Deusen was searching for information about her father, when she stumbled up on information about Livingston and the ongoing attempts by his descendants to have him recognized as the true author of the Christmas poem.

Mary Van Deusen enlisted the aid of Don Foster, a literary sleuth, who ferreted out the authorship of Primary Colors. Foster's detective work forced Joe Klein to admit that he wrote that book.

Van Deusen and Foster have discovered a number of supports for the claim that Livingston authored the Christmas poem. The strongest evidence is in the other writings of the two men. Clement Moore's works are didactic, moralizing pieces, but Livingston's are similar in tone and style to the famous Christmas poem. The following lines from a Christmas poem titled "From Saint Nicholas" penned by Moore show an example of his mindset, which consistently produced poem after poem of a similar nature:

What! My sweet little Sis, in bed all alone;
No light in your room! And your nursy too gone!
And you, like a good child, are quietly lying,
While some naughty ones would be fretting or crying?
Well, for this you must have something pretty, my dear;
And, I hope, will deserve a reward too next year.
But, speaking of crying, I'm sorry to say
Your screeches and screams, so loud ev'ry day,
Were near driving me and my goodies away.

Moore's personality was that of a strict, stern disciplinarian; he was a biblical scholar who disdained most forms of entertainment, and in most of his writings he depicts God as a harsh rule-maker. For this reason, among many, it becomes difficult to believe that Moore wrote the fun-filled poem that shaped our perception of Santa Claus as a jolly old elf, whose belly shook like a bowl full of jelly. For another look at Santa Claus through the eye of Moore, check out his "Old Santeclaus."

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