| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | VI. Maidenhood | | By David Gray (1838–1861) |
| | | A SACRED land, to common men unknown, | |
| A land of bowery glades and greenwoods hoary, | |
| Still waters where white stars reflected shone, | |
| And ancient castles in their ivied glory. | |
| Fair knights caparisoned in golden mail, | 5 |
| And maidens whose enchantment was their beauty, | |
| Met but to whisper each the passion-tale, | |
| For love was all their pleasure and their duty. | |
| Here cedar bark, as with a moving will, | |
| Floated through liquid silver all untended; | 10 |
| Here wrong and baseness ever came to ill, | |
| And virtue with delight was sweetly blended. | |
| This land, dear Spenser! was thy fair creation, | |
| Made through fine glamour of imagination. | | | | |
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