The poet is walking along a deserted stretch of seacoast, observing the "rough, long grasses" that "keep white with frost on the wintry day. The narrator comes to the signpost with arrows giving directions to different destinations and asks himself where he wants to go. An internal conversation begins. No sooner does the speaker ask which way he will go than the voice of his youth tells him that when he was young, he would have made a quick decision; he would not have paused to ponder his direction. Yet another voice reminds the speaker, and also the voice of his youth, that when he was young he was actually full of a gloomy pessimism and despair "At twenty you wished you had never been born."
The second voice – the voice of mature experience – takes over now, emphasizing the inevitability of death and burial. The final reality of death makes human life at any age and human experience of any kind seem valuable. Once in heaven, the youthful speaker will wish simply to exist again on earth. If we experience any kind of consciousness or self-awareness after we are dead, we are likely to miss our time on earth and the companionship we enjoyed there. We are likely to wish that we could be on earth again under almost any circumstances. Merely to exist on earth can seem a joy, no matter how old we are and no matter what directions we ultimately decide to take. The poet has come to understand that the destination is the same for everyone, from "a poor man of any sort, down to a king." A person may go "here or anywhere" to experience any type of weather, any time of the year, any sort of desired activity or emotion. In the end, all people die and receive "a mouthful of earth to remedy all regrets and wishes." A person may wonder "where shall he journey, O where?", but it makes no difference.
In The Signpost Edward Thomas dwells on one of the most important question one has to face in life :“Which way shall I...