What do these lines from a poem mean?

[Juhi :(]

A Frosty Night By Robert Graves

'ALICE, dear, what ails you,
Dazed and lost and shaken?
Has the chill night numbed you?
Is it fright you have taken?'

'Mother, I am very well,
I was never better.
mother, do not hold me so,
Let me write my letter.'

Sweet, my dear, what ails you?'
'No, but I am well.
The night was cold and frosty---
There's no more to tell.'

'Ay, the night was frosty,
Coldly gaped the moon,
Yet the birds seemed twittering
Through green boughs of June.'

'Soft and thick the snow lay,
Stars danced in the sky---
Not all the lambs of May-day
Skip so bold and high.

Your feet were dancing, Alice,
Seemed to dance on air,
You looked like ghost or angel
In the star-light there,

'Your eyes were frosted star-light;
Your heart, fire and snow.
Who was it said, "I love you" ?'
'Mother,let me go."


Ok,so i understand the poem except for the lines:
Not all the lambs of May-day
Skip so bold and high.

what are lambs of may day? what is the literal and deep meaning of this?

[holacarinados]

May day was an annual ritual that supposedly promoted abundance and fertility and occurred at the beginning of the warm season. The poem has an irony in that it describes abundance during a time of frost and cold--could be both physical and spiritual meanings.

[Quiettitle473]

The poet compares the dying Alice to lambs newly-born in early spring, who used to skip and jump. Alice used to be like those lambs, but now lies dying in the frosty winter cold. She is writing a letter to her lover as she lies dying of a broken hert.

[Shari G]

Alice is dying that is clear to read, no all the lambs born are jumping and running with mother some are sickly born and will not make it. And this is the case with Alice.