twas the night before christmas clement c moore

'It was kept in the collection, so obviously it was valued. 'There is that family connection, so we're quite certain that she must have written it down,' Little said. The Odell manuscript indicates that as early as 1824, friends of Moore were aware of the poem and believed that he was the author.īut Mary's source for her copy remains a mystery. Moore (Author), Christian Birmingham (Illustrator) 9,555 ratings See all formats and editions Kindle 0.99 Read with Our Free App Audiobook 0. The family of Henry Livingston Jr., a poet and farmer from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., has asserted since the 19th century Livingstone is the true author and claims that Moore fraudulently took credit for the famous work. Clement Clarke Moore The Night Before Christmas, Classic Edition Hardcover Septemby Clement C. That the poem was published anonymously - and that Moore long refused to confirm or deny writing it - has led some to dispute his authorship of A Visit from St.

In the early 19th century, before printing technology was widespread in the colonies, it was common for avid readers to 'copy literature like this and circulate it, and keep journals of literature.' Grandy said. It was then that Clement Clarke Moore recited the poem privately to his family on Christmas Eve in 1822, as his six children surrounded him. 'Maybe it came through in letters, or someone passed it along and she chose to write it out herself.' Jonathan Odell of Fredericton from Clement Moore, who is widely considered to be the author of Twas the Night Before Christmas. I wish you'd done the same.Īnd I'd recommend that any family that intends to read this yearly purchase one of those other versions instead.A letter addressed to the Hon. There are lots of other lovely versions out there which DON'T feel the need to cut the text. Pity, because this is cute as a mouse version-though it's been done before: Having to stop and explain things to your children is one of the most important parts of reading aloud! Plenty of time to explain the bits they don't get and then re-read it.

But most families who read this poem are likely to want to read it more than once. So you changed things on the basis of what YOUR children get or don't get? Aren't you publishing this for lots of children out there?Īs for 'spoiling the mood,' perhaps if you're going to only read this one time, that might be so. You cut out the smoking and you changed the charming 'settled our brains' to 'settled down,' but left 'visions of sugar plums,' 'kerchief' and other such intact. Moreover you picked and chose what you bowdlerized.

By changing 'peddler' to 'woodsman', and making Santa look like a cast member of ( ugh!) 'Duck Dynasty', you have taken away one of the key points of Moore's poem, which is it gave one of the first images of 'Santa Claus' as he developed from 'Sinterklaas.'

Twas the night before christmas clement c moore