What do you think is the most powerful, most influential poem ever written in this country? Which one has changed our American culture, our economy, our relationships, influences our state of mind and behavior whether we know it, like it, or not, and continues to impact our children's lives more than we may want to acknowledge?
Twas the Night before Christmas http://www.carols.org.uk/twas_the_night_before_christmas.htm
Clement Moore, the author of the poem Twas the Night before Christmas, was a reticent man and it is believed that a family friend, Miss H. Butler, sent a copy of the poem to the New York Sentinel who published the poem. The condition of publication was that the author of Twas the night before Christmas was to remain anonymous. The first publication date was 23rd December 1823 and it was an immediate success. It was not until 1844 that Clement Clarke Moore claimed ownership when the work was included in a book of his poetry. Clement Clarke Moore came from a prominent family and his father Benjamin Moore was the Bishop of New York who was famous for officiating at the inauguration of George Washington. The tradition of reading Twas the night before Christmas poem on Christmas Eve is now a Worldwide institution and tradition.
Do people shop for Christmas all year long, because the wise men brought gifts to the Baby Jesus? Christian tradition tells us that the wise men and their gifts did not reach Bethlehem until Epiphany, January 6th. In other cultures, Epiphany is the day of gift giving.
In America, the Santa created by this shy man's poem has his own secular holiday that actually competes with the religious holy days and overwhelms them in the public milieu if not in our hearts. Look about you this season and witness the effects of America's most influential and least celebrated poet, Clement Clark Moore.
The Most Powerful American Poet by Abby Freeborn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. For permission to use please contact randmxcentric@gmail.com
I have been thinking about this for two days now. It is interesting to think that many people know Samuel Clement wrote the poem, but not thought more deeply about the impact of said poem.
ReplyDeleteGlad it got you thinking. You are not alone in ascribing this famous poem to Samuel Clement (the real name of Mark Twain), but it was written by Clement Clark Moore, the most influential among the least known poets in America.
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