Thanks for posting the full Longfellow lyrics and the article on the carol's history, Joe.
One minor correction, though. The "unknown person" did not write a new last verse; he/she took Longfellow's third verse and put it at the end of the poem.

I had often wondered why that verse sometimes showed up at the end and sometimes in the middle of the song.

Personally, I would still give Longfellow credit for writing the carol, since the other person merely changed a word or two, deleted a verse (don't we all do this to songs from time to time?) and changed the order of verses.

Longfellow's poem may be dated in the specifics of verse four, but the rest of the poem, including, especially, verse five, is, sadly, very currant.--All it would take would be a few minor word substitutions in verse four and the whole thing would be most apt for this Christmas season.

Joe, can you make a link between this thread and Ian B's "Hard hitting Christmas Songs?" thread?

Genie