MacDonald P. Jackson

Who Wrote "The Night Before Christmas"?

Analyzing the Clement Clarke Moore vs. Henry Livingston Question

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Published anonymously in 1823, "The Night Before Christmas" has traditionally been attributed to Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863), who included it in his Poems (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. 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. 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.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: McFarland
• Seitenzahl: 204
• Erscheinungstermin: 27. April 2016
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 152mm x 12mm
• Gewicht: 339g
• ISBN-13: 9781476664439
• ISBN-10: 1476664439
• Artikelnr.: 43855881

Autorenporträt

MacDonald P. Jackson is an emeritus professor of English at the University of Auckland and a fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

Inhaltsangabe

Table of Contents Acknowledgments Preface 1.
Introduction to the Problem 2.
Moore and Livingston: External and Internal Evidence 3.
Reindeer Names, Exclamations and Other Clues 4.
The Question of Sources 5.
The Evidence of Meter 6.
Statistical Interlude 7.
Attributive Adjectives 8.
Rhyme Links with Moore and Livingston 9.
Shared Three-Word Sequences and Parallels 10.
Phoneme Pairs 11.
Categories of Phoneme Pairs 12.
Individual Phoneme Pairs More Favored by Moore or Livingston 13.
Definite and Indefinite Articles 14.
Very High-Frequency Words 15.
Favorite Expressions and Quirks of Style 16.
Common Words That Discriminate 17.
Words of Medium-High Frequency 18.
Checking the Tests: Moore's Manuscript Poems 19.
The Moore Creation Myth 20.
The Livingston Version 21.
Further Considerations: Claims and Connections 22.
"Old Santeclaus" and Moore 23.
Summary and Conclusions Appendix I: Henry Livingston: Selected Poems and Prose Appendix II: Lists of the Poems of Livingston and Moore Appendix III: Printer's Copy for "Visit" in Moore's Poems (1844) Notes Bibliography Index