Book Minute

“'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; the stockings were hung by the chimney with care . . ." Lines from one of the most well-known Christmas poems ever written, Clement Clarke Moore’s depiction of “A Visit from St. Nicholas" has delighted children for years—often read aloud by parents on Christmas Eve.

He wrote it for his own children and published it anonymously in 1823. As popular as his children’s poem became, Clement Clarke Moore was a prominent theology professor and biblical scholar of his day. In a lecture to students in 1825, he said of the Bible: “This volume is like a beautiful old picture which has come down to us in a state of extraordinary perfection.”