Poetry · Chapter
The Sign-Post explained
At a hilltop sign-post, the speaker reads the sign and hears two voices—one recalling the certainty of youth, the other mocking regret.
What happens
At a hilltop sign-post, the speaker reads the sign and hears two voices—one recalling the certainty of youth, the other mocking regret. They debate the passage of time and the inevitability of death, concluding that any heaven would be flawed if it denied the freedom to wish, and that standing anywhere on earth at any age, talking with anyone, is enough.
Themes in this chapter
Memory and Time
The poem contrasts the speaker's past certainty at twenty with the present doubt, and looks forward to being sixty, reflecting on the passage of time.
Solitude and Reflection
The speaker stands alone at the hilltop sign-post, engaged in an internal dialogue about life's choices and the inevitability of death.
Characters to notice
- Unknown
The speaker who reads the sign and hears the two voices.
- Old Man
The voice that speaks with gentle scorn, recalling the speaker's youthful despair.
- Young Jack
The voice that recalls the speaker's certainty at twenty and laughs at the prospect of being sixty.
Key passages
“A voice says: You would not have doubted so At twenty. Another voice gentle with scorn Says: At twenty you wished you had never been born.”
One voice tells the speaker that at twenty he was certain, while another recalls that at twenty he wished he had never existed.
The two voices represent the speaker's past and present selves, highlighting the change in perspective with age.
“Whatever happens, it must befall, A mouthful of earth to remedy all Regrets and wishes shall freely be given”
No matter what occurs, death will eventually come and put an end to all regrets and desires.
The inevitability of death is presented as a final remedy for life's disappointments.
“To see what day or night can be, The sun and the frost, the land and the sea, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring— With a poor man of any sort, down to a king, Standing upright out in the air Wondering where he shall journey, O where?”
To experience the full range of seasons and weather, in the company of any person rich or poor, standing in the open air and wondering where to go next.
The speaker imagines an ideal heaven where one can still enjoy the simple, earthly experience of being alive and free to choose a path.