Who Wrote The Night Before Christmas?

<p> Published anonymously in 1823 The Night Before Christmas has traditionally been attributed to Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863) who included it in his <I>Poems</I> (1844). But descendants of Henry Livingston (1748-1828) claim that he read it to his children as his own creation long before Moore is alleged to have composed it.</p><p> This book evaluates the opposing arguments and for the first time uses the author-attribution techniques of modern computational stylistics to settle the long-standing dispute. Both writers left substantial bodies of verse which have been computer analyzed for distinguishing characteristics.</p><p> Employing a range of tests and introducing a new one--statistical analysis of phonemes--this study identifies the true author and makes a significant contribution to the growing field of attribution studies.</p>