A Visit from St. Nicholas
An 1823 poem by Clement Clarke Moore about a visit from St. Nick. Originally titled "A Visit from St. Nicholas" and also known as "The Night Before Christmas" and " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas".
Here it is as read by none other than the trumpet master Louis Armstrong, himself.
Tropes used in A Visit from St. Nicholas include:
- Adaptation Distillation: The poem crystallizes a number of ideas about St. Nicholas first found in Washington Irving's Knickerbocker History of New York.
- Anonymous Author: The poem was fist published anonymously.
- Beam Me Up, Scotty:
- "On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donner and Blitzen!" Only it isn't--the original poem retained the Dutch names Donder and Blixen, as was suitable to the old Dutch settlers of New York who introduced
SinterklaasSanta Claus to America. Later re-printings Ret Conned the names into their more familiar German forms. - The phrase "
MerryHappy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"
- "On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donner and Blitzen!" Only it isn't--the original poem retained the Dutch names Donder and Blixen, as was suitable to the old Dutch settlers of New York who introduced
- Trope Codifier: As stated above, this little poem etched in stone a lot of the core image we have of Santa Claus.