Textual analysis outweighs description and paraphrasing. The reader may have to make some inferences because the essay is not always sufficiently explicit. May contain some errors, but these do not undermine the overall quality of the essay. In order to merit a 7, the essay must include some treatment of poetic devices and language. Description and paraphrasing outweigh textual analysis.
Erroneous statements intrude and weaken the overall quality of the essay.
A good essay on the treatment of internal struggle in the poem that does not address poetic devices and language may fall into this category. Poorly organized, focus wanders, and comments are sketchy. Irrelevant comments may predominate. May contain major errors of interpretation. Essay is so general as to suggest that the student has not understood the question or the poem.