Twas the Night Before Christmas (A Visit From St. Nicholas)

Clement Clarke Moore, who lived from 1779 to 1863, was an American scholar and professor of Oriental and Greek literature in New York. He is remembered today, however, for a poem that he is traditionally said to have written for his own children, which first appeared in print, anonymously, in a newspaper in 1823. A Visit from St Nicholas, better known by its first line as The Night Before Christmas, quickly became popular, and it was reprinted in countless forms.

The poem fixed much of our picture of Santa Claus: the sleigh drawn by eight reindeer, whose names are given in the verses, the chimney, the round belly and the twinkling eyes. Earlier traditions had varied from country to country, and this poem gave American Christmas a vivid and cheerful new image. Its anapaestic rhythm, bouncing along like the sleigh itself, is easy to remember and a pleasure to recite.

Authorship has occasionally been disputed, and some scholars have argued for another writer, though Moore has long been the accepted author. The question does not affect the pleasure of the verses.

This recording gathers the nine versions made for a LibriVox weekly poetry project, each in a chapter of its own, and the whole collection lasts about half an hour. Hearing so many different voices speak the same lines is like going from house to house on the night itself, and each reader finds a new way to bring out the humour and warmth. It is a lovely addition to any holiday playlist, and a wonderful poem to share with children.