Written and © by Jarno Tarkoma

Moore, Clement C.

Many writers have been instrumental in designing the features of Christmas. One of the most influential was Moore whose poem "A Visit from St.Nicholas" painted the portrait of an American Santa Claus:

Down the chimney St.Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in furs from his head to his foot,
and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a pedlar 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 on 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 laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and plump - a right jolly old elf -
And laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.

Thomas Nast the cartoonist got his inspiration from Moore's poem. Thereafter no one could prevent the inevitable triumph of Moore's Santa.


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