Twas who?



Major Henry Livingston, Jr.

Clement Clarke Moore did a lot of inspiring things during his long and productive lifetime (compiled a Hebrew and English Lexicon, helped to organize a parish church, was a seminary professor, published a collection of poems), but whether he actually wrote A Visit from St. Nicholas (aka Twas the Night Before Christmas) is still being debated.

Famed forensic-linguist Donald Foster does not believe that Moore was the author.  When documents are examined for authenticity, the following is taken into account:  ink, paper, handwriting, sequence of strokes, printing processes, erasures, alterations, additions, indentations, communication antecedents, communication consequences, and communication characteristics.

If not Moore, then who?

According to Wikipedia, Major Henry Livingston, Jr. “is considered the chief candidate for authorship.”  Livingston, a distant relative of Moore’s wife, had been writing poetry for about ten years before the seven children from his second marriage were born.  Some of this poetry had been published anonymously.  (A Visit from St. Nicholas was also anonymous when it first appeared in a Troy, New York newspaper.)

Some say that Livingston wrote A Visit from St. Nicholas for his younger children.  Several of these children claimed that Livingston read this poem to them years before it was first published.  Not surprisingly, some of Moore’s descendents have made some different-sounding claims.

Doubt remains alive and well here on planet Earth.  Folks will pretty much challenge everything and everyone.  Some are even saying that Santa isn’t for real – that he wouldn’t even exist in shopping malls today if it weren’t for this poem.

Go figure…

Research

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_Clarke_Moore

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Livingston,_Jr.#cite_note-mac-2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Wayne_Foster

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Questioned_document_examination

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_analysis

Copyright December 24, 2010 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved