A Visit from St. Nicholas
aka
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
By Clement Clarke Moore
Published by LIbrivox.org
Read by Annie Coleman Rothenberg, Betsie Bush, Chris Goringe, Brad and Grace Bush, Kara Shallenberg, Peter Yearsley, Mark Bradford, Sam Lipten and Sean Randall
The Poem:
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro’ the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugar plums danced in their heads And Mama in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap— When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash, Tore open the shutters, and threw up the sash. The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow, Gave the luster of mid-day to objects below; When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer, With a little old driver, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick. More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, And he whistled, and shouted, and call’d them by name: “Now! Dasher, now! Dancer, now! Prancer and Vixen, “On! Comet, on! Cupid, on! Dunder and Blixem; “To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall! “Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!” As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky; So up to the house-top the coursers they flew, With the sleigh full of toys—and St. Nicholas too: And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof The prancing and pawing of each little hoof. As I drew in my head, and was turning around, Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound: He was dress’d all in fur, from his head to his foot, And his clothes were all tarnish’d with ashes and soot; A bundle of toys was flung on his back, And he look’d like a peddler just opening his pack: His eyes—how they twinkled! His dimples: how merry, His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry; His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow; The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath. He had a broad face, and a little round belly That shook when he laugh’d, like a bowl full of jelly: He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, And I laugh’d when I saw him in spite of myself; A wink of his eye and a twist of his head Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread. He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, And fill’d all the stockings; then turn’d with a jerk, And laying his finger aside of his nose And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose. He sprung to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew, like the down of a thistle: But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night
Not much to add to that, I think except that this seem singularly appropriate to a blog post today. I copied these words, by the way, from Wikipedia. The names might ring wrong to some listeners and readers although on my own research I discovered that Dunder and Blixem were in the original poem. Later editions changed them to Donner and Blitzen. Most of the readers used the original names in this recording. This is the poem that made the reindeer names canon. In spite of recent commercials, Bob Humbug, Gregg Nog and Vertigo did not make the cut and Rudolph was another late addition. However, these names were not yet engraved in stone when L. Frank Baum wrote his Adventures of Santa Claus which I reviewed a few years ago, but they seem to be these days. Amazing influence for a single poem.
The Audiobook:
As they have done with other famous short works, Librivox has recorded this poem numerous times in a variety of collections. This one however is all the same poem, but read in nine different versions and I think each one had its own charm. None of the readers were over-polished, which is good, so the compilation comes off as a bunch of friends sitting around the fireplace, taking turns reading. Perhaps the most charming one was by Brad Bush and (his daughter?) Grace, who took turns reading couplets.
The poem itself is all couplets and not particularly sophisticated, but it makes up for that by its charming content and the fact that it is not quite sing-song in nature – something I cannot say about next week’s offering.
All told, this may be one of the most favorite bits of Christmas lore for most people and listening to this compilation is bound to put you in the spirit.
Jonathan Edward Feinstein's News (and Reviews!) 