By examining how a group of poets judged particular contemporary poems, the authors identify the aesthetic criteria that often inform such evaluations.

Explores how writing instructors at “City University” grappled with crises of standardization in evaluation of students’ portfolios. Details the two most severe experiences in multiple breakdowns in the project of standardization: crises of textual representation and crises of evaluative subjectivity. Examines conflicting interpretations (psychometric and hermeneutic) of City University’s crises.