Henry Livingston Jr. Henry Livingston Jr. Henry Beekman Livingston Jr. (October 13, 1748 – February 29, 1828) has been proposed as being the uncredited author of the poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas", more popularly known (after its first line) as "The Night Before Christmas". Credit for the poem was taken in 1837 by Clement Clarke Moore, a Bible scholar in New York City, nine years after Livingston's death. It was not until another twenty years that the Livingston family knew of Moore's claim, and it was not until 1900 that they went public with their own claim. Since then, the question has
The Nightingale: A Conversation Poem to his childhood home at Ottery and then went to visit William and Dorothy Wordsworth. It was during this time that Coleridge wrote "Fears in Solitude: Written in April 1798, During the Alarm of an Invasion". The poem was included in a joint publication with William Wordsworth called "Lyrical Ballads", which first appeared in 1798 (see 1798 in poetry). Originally, Coleridge intended to place "Lewti or the Circassian Love-chaunt" in the collection. "The Nightingale" was published in seven other editions but was altered little. The poem begins with Milton's line in "Il Penseroso" about nightingales and then corrects it: The