who wrote the song twas the night before christmas
A Visit from St. Nicholas "A Visit from St. Nicholas", more commonly known as "The Night Before Christmas" and "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" from its first line, is a poem first published anonymously in 1823 and later attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, who claimed authorship in 1837. Some commentators now believe the poem was written by Henry Livingston Jr..
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Robert L. May created Rudolph in 1939 as an assignment for Chicago-based Montgomery Ward. The retailer had been buying and giving away coloring books for Christmas every year and it was decided that creating their own book would save money. Robert May considered naming the reindeer "Rollo" or "Reginald" before deciding upon using the name "Rudolph", most likely because of the name being closely related to his own name.[8] In its first year of publication, Montgomery Ward distributed 2.4 million copies of Rudolph's story.[9] The story is written as a poem in anapestic tetrameter, the same meter as "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (also known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas").[citation needed] Publication and reprint rights for the book Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer are controlled by Pearson PLC.[citation needed]