Corn Maze Poem Analysis

Corn mazes are huge, sometimes extravagant, mazes made out of corn where children and children at heart find amusement in making wrong turns and getting lost looking for the end. David Barber uses a corn maze to show that in life everything we do, whether a positive or a negative impact, is an experience. Experiences form the basis of all types of human relationships (Volkmer). Barber uses paradoxes, an extended metaphor, and diction to portray the idea that the experiences in life impact one later. Barber demonstrates his feelings of experiences impacting our life through his use of paradoxes. Barber uses the paradoxes to create the underlying effect that life is confusing and the answers to life’s biggest questions will not just come right …show more content…
Barber describes what someone does in a corn maze throughout the entire poem, and uses paradoxes and diction as a way to connect the corn maze and life. Barber says, “But on you blunder” (16) as a way that one can make a wrong turn in a corn maze as well as in life, but after they realize that they made a wrong turn they can use that experience to help get back on the correct path. Barber also calls the corn maze, “Like any other” (8) to represent that there are other corn mazes that share the same qualities like the one he is describing, but not exactly like that one specific corn maze. This idea is the same for how there are other people who may look the same or share some of the same qualities, but each individual person is unique.
Barber uses paradoxes, diction, and an extended metaphor in the poem “Corn Maze,” in order to show how the experiences that one has can impact their life later. Barber understood that in many situations, people use the experiences that they had earlier in life to help them make the correct decision. Barber also believed that life is about getting lost and confused, but the experiences that are created everyday follow us through life can always help us get back on the right path or out of the