Let me delight you with insights about the most famous Christmas poem ever "Twas the Night Before Christmas" By Clement C Moore 1823. It is not only magical but it transformed the world as we know it!
Let us start with the history of this famous poem. While known mostly today as "The Night Before Christmas" or "Twas the Night Before Christmas" which was taken from its first line, it was in fact originally called "A Visit from St. Nicholas".
It was first published in 1823 in the USA and yes that is a long time ago now. Yet this poem is so is incredibly important for you to know that it laid the contemporary American conception and vision of our beloved Santa Claus that has also been adopted in other countries. It redefined the image of Christmas as American's previously knew it. They adopted the poems description of Santa and his reindeer as the one that they would embrace.
Prior to this poem St Nicholas, who was of course known as the patron saint of children, synonymous with Christmas, had never been associated with a sleigh or reindeers! So this poem was the catalyst for a whole new way of celebrating and rekindling Christmas each year in an incredibly magical and enchanting way!
It is believed that a family friend, Miss H. Butler, sent a copy of the poem to the New York Sentinel newspaper who first published the poem in on 23rd December 1823. It was published under the condition that the author was to remain anonymous. It was an instant success as people young and old loved it!
It was reprinted frequently from thereon with no name attached and it was not until 1837 that Clement Clarke Moore was declared as the author by a newspaper. Yet Moore himself did not claim the poem as his until 1844 when it was included in a book of his poetry. Some say that he was persuaded by his children to claim the poem. More was not too keen because he wanted to be known for more shall we say, scholarly works. However, there is a little controversy as some believe that he may not have authored it and a member of his extended family may have. However this has never been proven to this day! What we do know is that Moore wrote much darker poems prior to this one.
