<P> On Christmas Eve night, while his wife and children sleep, a father awakens to noises outside his house . Looking out the window, he sees Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas) in an air - borne sleigh pulled by eight reindeer . After landing his sleigh on the roof, the saint enters the house through the chimney, carrying a sack of toys with him . The father watches Santa filling the children's Christmas stockings hanging by the fire, and laughs to himself . They share a conspiratorial moment before Santa bounds up the chimney again . As he flies away, Santa wishes everyone a "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night ." </P> <P> The poem's meter is anapestic tetrameter (four feet of unstressed - unstressed - stressed). The anapest is the same foot used to construct limericks, and the common metrical modifications that can be observed in the limerick form also can be observed in Moore's poem . For example, while the first two lines each use full anapests, lines 3 and 4 each drop the first unstressed syllable . Likewise, lines 9 and 10 drop the first unstressed syllable; they also add an extra unstressed syllable to the end . </P> <P> According to legend, "A Visit" was composed by Clement Clarke Moore on a snowy winter's day during a shopping trip on a sleigh . His inspiration for the character of Saint Nicholas was a local Dutch handyman as well as the historical Saint Nicholas . Moore originated many of the features that are still associated with Santa Claus today while borrowing other aspects, such as the use of reindeer . The poem was first published anonymously in the Troy, New York Sentinel on 23 December 1823, having been sent there by a friend of Moore, and was reprinted frequently thereafter with no name attached . It was first attributed in print to Moore in 1837 . Moore himself acknowledged authorship when he included it in his own book of poems in 1844 . By then, the original publisher and at least seven others had already acknowledged his authorship . Moore had a reputation as an erudite professor and had not wished at first to be connected with the unscholarly verse . He included it in the anthology at the insistence of his children, for whom he had originally written the piece . </P> <P> Moore's conception of Saint Nicholas was borrowed from his friend Washington Irving (see below), but Moore portrayed his "jolly old elf" as arriving on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day . At the time that Moore wrote the poem, Christmas Day was overtaking New Year's Day as the preferred genteel family holiday of the season, but some Protestants viewed Christmas as the result of "Catholic ignorance and deception" and still had reservations . By having Saint Nicholas arrive the night before, Moore "deftly shifted the focus away from Christmas Day with its still - problematic religious associations ." As a result, "New Yorkers embraced Moore's child - centered version of Christmas as if they had been doing it all their lives ." </P>

When was twas the night before christmas written