Childrens Christmas Classics Fiction Holiday Picture Books Poetry

The Night Before Christmas

Name: The Night Before Christmas
Rating: 4.4 (127243 reviews)
Author: Clement Clarke Moore

Clement Clarke Moore December 23, 1823

4.4 127.2k Ratings

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Synopsis

This poem first appeared in a newspaper in Troy, New York, USA, on December 23, 1823, as “A Visit From St. Nicholas”. No one claimed authorship until 13 years later. Clement Clarke Moore, a professor and poet, said that he wrote the piece for his children. Unbeknownst to him, his housekeeper had sent it to the newspaper to be published. However, the family of Henry Livingston Jr. contended that their father had been reciting “A Visit from St. Nicholas” for 15 years prior to publication. Regardless of the true author, the poem is now a Christmas classic.

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