Highsmith, Carol M, photographer. [North Reading Room, east wall. Detail of mural by Ezra Winter illustrating the characters in the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Library of Congress John Adams Building, Washington, D.C.] , 2007. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2007687191/.
The Canterbury Tales mural would be the perfect introduction to reading Chaucer’s text. Its vivid colors, order of characters, and movement within the piece can interest students in the characters before they begin, and they could make predictions about whose stories they would like to read. In addition, classrooms reading only a few tales can focus on their specific character(s) without looking at the entire mural to keep students focused. By pairing the photograph of the mural with the text, students can evaluate how art interprets characters and tells its own story just as literature can.
This photograph shows the left half of the mural on the east wall. According to the inscription, the figures are (left to right): "The Merchant, with his Flemish beaver hat and forked beard; the Friar; the Monk; the Franklin; the Wife of Bath; the Parson and his brother the Ploughman, riding side by side" (Source: On These Walls by John Y. Cole. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1995, p. 80).
Ezra Winter completed the Canterbury murals for the newly built John Adams Building in the Library of Congress in 1939 and has several significant murals in libraries and other government buildings around the country. In addition to the Library of Congress, his work can be seen in the Birmingham Public Library, the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park rotunda, Radio City Music Hall, Cornell University, and others. Carol Highsmith photographed his Library of Congress murals in 2007.
- How does color add symbolic meaning to characters and art?
- How do artists capture story writing into a visual snapshot? What should they focus on and how “accurate” should it be?
- How and why are murals created? What are their benefits and weaknesses compared to other art forms?
Texas ELAR TEKS and Common Core State Standards
CC.RL.11-12.7 - Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text.
- Students can compare and contrast multiple interpretations of The Canterbury Tales characters, either by using just the mural and the text, or by using other interpretations, including their own.
TEKS E4.4C - Make and correct or confirm predictions using text features, characteristics of genre, and structures.
- Teachers can use the mural as a pre-reading exercise to introduce The Canterbury Tales characters.
TEKS E4.4F - Make inferences and use evidence to support understanding.
- Students should be able to use visual analysis techniques to support their inferences about each character.
- Before beginning The Canterbury Tales, have students rely on the image of the mural to make predictions about each character, what their role will be, and what their personality might be like using the Library of Congress Primary Source Analysis Tool. As they read the Prologue and/or individual tales, have them keep track of quotes from the text that support or refute their original predictions. After reading, have them discuss and evaluate the artist’s depiction of each character, including what the artist may have focused on that was different from the text.
- Zadie Smith wrote a play modernizing “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” Wife of Willesden, in 2021. Using excerpts from her play, excerpts from “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” and Winter’s depiction here, have students complete a Triple Venn Diagram to compare and contrast interpretations of Alyson. When using the mural, make sure students consider how color, movement, costume, etc. are used to capture her.
- The Canterbury Tales has been the subject of book bans for centuries due to its criticism of the church, sexual innuendo, and profanity.
- The New Yorker has a feature on one of the more controversial subjects in The Canterbury Tales, Alyson in “The Wife of Bath.”
- Ezra Winter’s suicide in 1949 was reported in The Evening Star, also in the Library of Congress resources. Discussing suicide may be triggering for students and families.
Links to resources for approaching those topics
- If including Winter’s death in the lessons, it would be a good opportunity to talk about mental health resources for students and the pressures they are under. The National Education Association has resources for teachers: “Educators Can Play a Role in Preventing Student Suicide.”
- [North Reading Room, west wall.] - This image shows another side of the Canterbury Tales mural with different characters from other tales.
- The prologue and characters of Chaucer's pilgrims - Romantic poet and artist William Blake also has an interpretation of Chaucer’s characters.
- Students can watch Winter at work on the mural in Rockefeller Center in the silent film detailing the creation of the building at the 8:09 mark.
- The Library of Congress web archives have more information on Winter’s murals, including those in the North Reading Room.
- The Library of Congress has a timeline of the expansion of the library that includes other primary sources and details about the addition of the John Adams Building: "A Handsome Box": The Adams Building. It includes links and information about Ezra Winter and the murals.