A Visit from St. Nicholas

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An 1823 poem by Clement Clarke Moore about a visit from St. Nick. Originally titled and also known as "A Visit from St. Nicholas".

Here it is as read by none other than the trumpet master Louis Armstrong, himself.

The poem contains the following tropes:

• Adaptation Distillation: The poem crystallizes a number of ideas about St. Nicholas first found in Washington Irving's Knickerbocker History of New York.
• 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 Sinterklaas Santa Claus to America. Later re-printings Ret Conned the names into their more familiar German forms.
  • The phrase "Merry Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"
• Trope Codifier: As stated above, this little poem etched in stone a lot of the core image we have of Santa Claus.