Moore vs. Livingston: Who Really Wrote "The Night Before Christmas"

Teaching Theme of the Week

from Education World®

Who was the real author of "The Night Before Christmas"? Students take a look at the facts and then decide.

Subjects: Language Arts, Educational Technology, Social Studies

Grade Levels: 6-8, 9-12

Objectives
Students will:

• research an author and gather information that seems to support that person as author of "The Night Before Christmas';
• work in groups to gather the most solid evidence to support that author as the creator of the poem;
• decide which author has the strongest case; and,
• write a persuasive essay presenting strong evidence in support of Moore or Livingston as the author of the classic poem.

Keywords
Moore, Livingston, Christmas, Santa, poem, debate, persuasive, essay

Materials Needed

• Internet access for research (or printed information from the Web; resources provided)

Procedure
'Twas the Night Before Christmas and all through the house ... History has it that Clement Clark Moore penned the words of that classic rhyme for his own children. But in 2000, in Author Unknown: On the Trail of Anonymous, Don Foster, a professor of English at Vassar College, presented what he felt was airtight proof that the famous words were instead written by Major Henry Livingston, Jr. A detailed review of previous works of playful rhyme by Livingston helped Foster make his case.

In this lesson, students take a look at the evidence and decide for themselves who wrote the poem they all know so well.

Start the lesson by arranging students into groups of four. Within the groups, pair students so that two of them research the facts surrounding Moore and the other two focus their research on Livingston. (Idea for creating student pairs: Place in a hat or bowl two index cards labeled Moore and two index cards labeled Livingston. Have students in each group draw a card to determine which author they will research.) Give students a class period or two to gather information and make notes that prove their assigned author was the actual creator of "The Night Before Christmas."

The next time students meet, gather them in their original groups of four and ask them to share the results of their research. Have each group create two columns on a piece of paper; in one column have them list the best evidence that Moore is the author and, in the other column, list the points that support Livingston's authorship of the poem.

During the next session, the groups share their findings and the entire class creates a record of the strongest arguments for each man's authorship.

By this time, students should have an idea of which man they think was the author of the classic poem. Provide one more day in the library or computer lab for detailed research to gather last-minute support for the man they believe is the true author.

Finally, each student uses his or her notes to write an essay in support of one of the two men as author of "The Night Before Christmas."

Some Internet Resources
Provide the following Internet resources as a starting point for students and encourage them to search out other sources as they dig for information.

• A Mouse in Henry Livingston's House This document makes the case for Henry Livingston as author of "The Night Before Christmas."
• There Arose Such a Clatter: Who Really Wrote "The Night Before Christmas"? (And Why Does It Matter?) This article by Stephen Nissenbaum makes a case for Moore as the author.
• Selected Poetry of Clement Clark Moore
• Literary Sleuth Casts Doubt on the Authorship of an Iconic Christmas Poem (NY Times article)
• Clement Moore Biography and Manuscript
• The Night Before Christmas: A Descriptive Bibliography of Clement Clarke Moore's Immortal Poem by Nancy H. Marshall

Assessment
Did students' essays provide a strong point of view backed by solid facts? Were they clearly written? Was grammar and punctuation carefully edited?  Following are a few rubrics that might be used or adapted for grading this persuasive essay:

• Mr. Brody's Essay Grading Rubric
• Persuasive Essay Grading Rubric ( PDF, 5k)
• Persuasive Essay Rubric

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