Joy Sonnet in a Random Universe, by Helen Chasin
             The sonnet has been one of the most widely used and well-known verse forms for over four centuries. Generally written in series, but quite effective as individual poems, they have celebrated love, death and many other expressions of private, personal feelings. Traditionally, sonnets are one of the most rigidly defined poem forms with a set pattern of breaks and rhymes, following one of several conventions. As time has passed, however, many poets have moved away from traditional rhyme and verse form and have gravitated toward free verse. Although many poets are still drawn to the sonnet today, the results are often found in a greatly altered form. Nowhere is this more apparent than in "Joy Sonnet in a Random Universe " by Helen Chasin.
             In order to better understand how this poem does or does not conform to convention, let us first take a brief look at the traditional sonnet form.
             The sonnet was first used in the Middle Ages in Italy and France. It was brought to England and in the late 16th and early 17th it became a dominant verse form. Sonnets are fourteen lines in length and are usually written in iambic pentameter. They generally conform to one of two conventions in division and rhyme scheme, the Italian sonnet, or the English sonnet. The typical Italian (or Petrarchian) sonnet is divided into two parts, an octave (eight line stanza) followed by a sestet (six line stanza), each with a specific rhetorical slant: the first stanza generally poses a question or problem, which the second stanza answers or resolves.
             The English (or Shakespearean) sonnet, on the other hand, uses four divisions: three quatrains and a rhyming couplet. As with the Italian sonnet, a general progression is subject is followed: a problem is posed in the first four-line stanza, is further developed the next two four-line sta
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