A Visit from St. Nicholas

A Visit from St. Nicholas
by Clement Clarke Moore
Text from the original publication of the poem in the Troy Sentinel, with the spellings "Dunder" and "Blixem".
Original titleAccount of a Visit from St. Nicholas
Written1823
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Subject(s)Santa Claus, Christmas
Genre(s)Children's poetry
MeterAnapestic tetrameter
Rhyme schemeCouplets
PublisherTroy Sentinel
Publication date23 December 1823
Media typeNewspaper
Lines56
Full text
A Visit from St. Nicholas at Wikisource
The cover of a series of illustrations for the "Night Before Christmas", published as part of the Public Works Administration project in 1934 by Helmuth F. Thoms

"A Visit from St. Nicholas", routinely referred to as "The Night Before Christmas" and "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" from its first line, is a poem first published anonymously under the title "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas" in 1823 and later attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, who claimed authorship in 1837.

The poem has been called "arguably the best-known verses ever written by an American"[1] and is largely responsible for some of the conceptions of Santa Claus from the mid-19th century to today. It has had a massive effect on the history of Christmas gift-giving. Before the poem gained wide popularity, American ideas had varied considerably about Saint Nicholas and other Christmastide visitors. "A Visit from St. Nicholas" eventually was set to music and has been recorded by several artists.

  1. ^ Burrows, Edwin G. & Wallace, Mike. Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. pp. 462–63 ISBN 0-19-511634-8

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