Evaluating Poetry: Navigating the Divide between Aesthetical and Creativity Judgments

The comprehension and appreciation of poetry are inherently subjective, involving both creativity and aesthetic appeal. However, do these assessments of aesthetics and creativity rely on identical criteria, or do they vary depending on underlying factors? We addressed this question in this study. Participants (N = 96) evaluated 25 English poems across nine subjective characteristics: reading fluency, vivid imagery, perceived emotions (valence and arousal), surprise, originality, usefulness, aesthetic appeal, and creativity. Linear mixed-model analysis revealed that a poem's creativity was primarily predicted by its originality, followed by its usefulness and vivid imagery. Conversely, the evaluation of a poem's aesthetic appeal followed a different route; it was mainly predicted by a poem's reading fluency, followed by arousal, valence, and vivid imagery. Additionally, the association between creativity and originality was significantly moderated by participants' personality traits, specifically, openness, vividness of visual imagery, and curiosity. The relationship between aesthetic appeal and reading fluency was moderated by the vividness of auditory imagery trait. These findings suggest that a poem's creativity evaluation closely aligns with the standard definition of creativity, relying on its originality and usefulness. The study provides novel insights into the implicit internal models in the evaluation of poetry.