Who Really Wrote “A Visit From St. Nicholas”?
“The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it.” - Dylan Thomas
My article here won’t mean much to you unless you do.
And thus begins the dilemma in trying to determine the true credit for A Visit From St. Nicholas.
As a writer, I would hate to have any of my original works credited to another author. BUT and it's a big BUT - I would equally hate to have anyone else's original work credited to ME.
Of course my feelings on that subject do not necessarily reflect either Clement C. Moore's or Henry Livingston Jr.'s feelings on the matter.
However, when you consider Moore's background, as described in Paul Hond’s article, The Story Behind the Most Famous Christmas Poem of All one can't help but view Moore as an honourable individual and wonder what his motives for claiming authorship might have been if he had not been its true author.
This defense is strengthened when one considers that Livingston also never made any claim to be its author.
That alone does not tell the whole story however, and is weakened somewhat when one does the math and also considers that Livingston died in 1928, only 6 years after Moore allegedly first wrote A Visit From St. Nicholas and 5 years after it was first published anonymously. Add to that, Livingston’s death came 9 years PRIOR to the works first being published giving credit to Moore.
It might be a different story if Livingston had lived long enough to see it published under Moore's name. Or it might not be.
But what of Livingston's family? What could their motive possibly be for insisting it was written by their dead relative? A Visit From St. Nicholas is in public domain so there’s certainly no financial gain to be had, at least not now.
Who knows why so many people do so many things? The home page of my website shows a quote that I had taken from my grandfather’s diary. The entry ends with, “Let us measure what we will do for others by what they will do for themselves.” While there is no doubt in my mind that the thoughts preceding that quote were those of my grandfather, for many years I had assumed that my grandfather had penned these words as well. Were it not for the internet, I would likely have insisted my grandfather was the true author of these words. However, more recently I discovered they were actually written by President Richard M. Nixon. (Or more likely, one of the president’s ghostwriters.)
I don’t believe it was my grandfather’s intent to plagiarize President Nixon nor take credit for it. He simply added the quote to help express his own feelings at the time.
Is it possible then, that the confusion lay in the fact that one of Livingston’s relatives once saw Moore’s poem copied in their relative’s handwriting and, after mistakenly assuming the authorship, set out to defend Livingston’s article? I don’t know.
But had Livingston copied this poem simply out of admiration of it, he would not have been able to credit the true author who was unknown at the time anyway.
In his very unbiased article, Paul Hond, who never really draws any conclusions himself, provides some pretty impressive arguments for the Livingston claim while giving equal space and credibility to Moore. None however, are totally conclusive.
And while my article may be slightly biased in favour of Moore, I suppose this will be one of many mysteries that we will never know the real answer to, at least not until the time machine is invented.
Why does it matter? Well it matters to Moore’s family just as it matters to Livingston’s family.
More importantly it matters to history.
But whoever the true author may be, the bottom line hasn’t changed.
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
- 30 -
Recommended Reading
Wikipedia: A Visit From St. Nicholas
The Story Behind the Most Famous Christmas Poem of All
Old Santeclaus by Clement C. Moore
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