The present study combines literary theory and cognitive psychology to empirically explore some cognitive and emotional facets of poetry reading, exemplified by the reading of three Shakespeare sonnets. Specifically, predictions generated combining quantitative textual analysis according to the Neurocognitive Poetics model with qualitative textual analysis based on the Foregrounding assessment Matrix of sonnets no. 27, 60 and 66 are empirically tested by analyzing 45 subjects’ ratings of the three sonnets. Reflecting the differences in foregrounding potential of the three sonnets found in the textual analysis, we expected to find different reader responses, accordingly. Our dependent variables are well-established categories of emotional evaluation (e.g. valence and arousal) and cognitive, affective and aesthetic aspects of readers’ responses (e.g. liking and understanding) as well as less common ones (e.g. wonder, delight and mental images). The statistical analyses suggest that the type of foregrounding is more important than the number of foregrounded elements. This finding motivated further qualitative exploration of reader responses to open questions regarding mental images and perceived feelings. Comparing the free recall data about the feelings perceived in the sonnets with the ratings data about Valence and Arousal indicated that only the former one reflects a clear distinction between all three sonnets, whereas the readers’ overall evaluations did not sustain this variety of feelings. Multi-method, interdisciplinary research of this kind contributes to improving our understanding of the potentially unique mechanisms involved in poetry reception, and to forming more precise hypotheses for future experimental studies using, for example, eye tracking.

本研究结合文学理论和认知心理学，以实证探索诗歌阅读的一些认知和情感方面，以阅读三首莎士比亚十四行诗为例。具体而言，根据神经认知诗学模型的定量文本分析与基于第 1 号十四行诗的前景评估矩阵的定性文本分析相结合生成的预测。第 27、60 和 66 行通过分析 45 名受试者对三首十四行诗的评分进行了实证检验。反映文本分析中发现的三首十四行诗的前景潜力差异，我们预计会相应地找到不同的读者反应。我们的因变量是成熟的情感评价类别（例如效价和唤醒）以及读者反应的认知、情感和审美方面（例如 喜欢和理解）以及不太常见的（例如惊奇、喜悦和心理意象）。统计分析表明，前景的类型比前景元素的数量更重要。这一发现激发了读者对有关心理图像和感知感受的开放性问题的反应的进一步定性探索。将十四行诗中所感知到的感觉的自由回忆数据与价和唤醒的评分数据进行比较表明，只有前一个反映了所有三首十四行诗之间的明显区别，而读者的总体评价并没有维持这种感觉的多样性。这种多方法、跨学科的研究有助于提高我们对诗歌接收所涉及的潜在独特机制的理解，