Highsmith, Carol M, photographer. North Reading Room, west 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/2007687083/ .
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 right half of the mural. According to the inscription, this mural on the west wall shows (left to right): "... the clerk of Oxenford, reading his beloved classics; the manciple; the sailor; the prioress; the nun; and three priests." (Source: On These Walls by John Y. Cole. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1995, p. 79).
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?
Common Core State Standards and Texas TEKS for ELAR
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
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.
- Winter made sure that the horses reflected each of their rider’s personalities. Have students discuss what they notice about each of the horses and how the animals relate to the riders. After reading, students can work to design a more modern mode of transportation for each character. Split students into small groups to focus on one specific character, and work with students to find quotes that support their modern transportation choices. Finally, have students illustrate their modernized version using their quotes and analysis, and then combine all groups for a “modern mural.”
- 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, east wall.] - This part of the mural shows another aspect of The Canterbury Tales, with different characters from other tales.
- The prologue and characters of Chaucer's pilgrims. - Romantic poet and artist William Blake’s engraving 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.