<P> Advocates for Livingston's authorship argue that Moore "tried at first to disavow" the poem . They also posit that Moore falsely claimed to have translated a book . Document dealer and historian Seth Kaller has challenged both claims . Kaller examined the book in question, A Complete Treatise on Merinos and Other Sheep, as well as many letters signed by Moore, and found that the "signature" was not penned by Moore, and thus provides no evidence that Moore made any plagiaristic claim . Kaller's findings were confirmed by autograph expert James Lowe, by Dr. Joe Nickell, the author of Pen, Ink & Evidence, and by others . According to Kaller, Moore's name was likely written on the book by a New - York Historical Society cataloger to indicate that it had been a gift from Moore to the Society . </P> <P> The following points have been advanced in order to credit the poem to Major Henry Livingston Jr.: </P> <P> Livingston also wrote poetry primarily using an anapaestic metrical scheme, and it is claimed that some of the phraseology of A Visit is consistent with other poems by Livingston, and that Livingston's poetry is more optimistic than Moore's poetry published in his own name . But Stephen Nissenbaum argues in his Battle for Christmas that the poem could have been a social satire of the Victorianization of Christmas . Furthermore, Kaller claims that Foster cherry - picked only the poems that fit his thesis and that many of Moore's unpublished works have a tenor, phraseology, and meter similar to A Visit . Moore had even written a letter titled "From Saint Nicholas" that may have predated 1823 . </P> <P> Foster also contends that Moore hated tobacco and would, therefore, never have depicted Saint Nicholas with a pipe . However, Kaller notes, the source of evidence for Moore's supposed disapproval of tobacco is The Wine Drinker, another poem by him . In actuality, that verse contradicts such a claim . Moore's The Wine Drinker criticizes self - righteous, hypocritical advocates of temperance who secretly indulge in the substances which they publicly oppose, and supports the social use of tobacco in moderation (as well as wine, and even opium, which was more acceptable in his day than it is now). </P>

How did the poet describe santa's belly in the night before christmas