Interpretation of Vagabond (R. Vaughan Williams) Text

[mike_lang]

Does anyone have a clue what Robert Louis Stevenson means in the poem "The Vagabond," by "biting the blue finger"?

Here is the context:

Or let autumn fall on me
Where afield I linger,
Silencing the bird on tree,
Biting the blue finger.
White as meal the frosty field -
Warm the fireside haven -
Not to autumn will I yield,
Not to winter even!

Either I am overanalyzing or it is a British idiom...

[richard black]

When your fingers start going blue you know you've got frostbite.