In The Great Divorce, the ghosts are thin and transparent while the Solid People are heavy with reality, so nearly every student essay touches on that contrast. The trouble is that many students describe the symbolism without explaining it, writing that ghosts are less real without saying what that suggests about the choices they have made. Feedback has to push them from naming the symbol toward interpreting it.

Effective comments treat the student's sentence as a starting point. If a student writes that the grass hurts the ghosts because heaven is uncomfortable for sinners, a strong comment asks what the pain says about the ghosts' readiness for reality rather than about heaven's harshness. That small shift teaches students to look for what Lewis is implying about the characters.

Good feedback also has a consistent shape so students learn to recognize it. Naming a strength, identifying one gap, and offering a next step lets a reader absorb the comment quickly even when it appears on a dozen papers in a row. Consistency makes your time investment pay off across the whole stack.

Weak Comments Versus Useful Comments

A comment such as "explain more" tells a student there is a problem but not where it is or how to solve it. A more useful version would point to the sentence about the ghost's transparency and ask what the lack of weight suggests about the ghost's relationship to truth. The specific question shows the student where to dig and gives them a reasoning task instead of a vague chore.

• Instead of "good point," write what the point accomplishes in the argument
• Instead of "unclear," identify the sentence and ask a question about it
• Instead of "more evidence," name the scene that would strengthen the claim
• Instead of "too much summary," mark the sentence where analysis should begin
• Instead of "awkward," show how one sentence could be tightened

Match the Comment to the Skill Level

Younger or less experienced writers need comments that model the thinking step, sometimes with a short example sentence. Advanced students benefit more from questions that complicate their reading, such as asking whether the Solid People are only symbols of goodness or also rebuke the ghosts' assumptions about what heaven ought to be. Adjusting the level of support keeps feedback challenging without being overwhelming.

If you teach mixed-ability classes, keep a small bank of comment stems at different levels. A stem might begin with "What does this detail suggest about" for beginners and "How might a reader argue against this interpretation" for stronger writers. Having them ready reduces decision fatigue during long grading sessions.

Using AI to Draft Comments You Can Trust

AI grading tools can produce first-draft comments tied to your rubric, which saves the repetitive typing that consumes so much grading time. The key is to review each comment for accuracy against the text, since a generic remark about symbolism may not fit what the student actually wrote. Editing a draft comment takes far less effort than composing one from scratch.

Over time, you will notice which suggestions you keep and which you rewrite, and that helps refine your instructions to the tool. Some teachers save their best comments as a personal library and adapt them to new assignments. The goal is feedback that sounds like a thoughtful teacher, delivered at a pace a busy teacher can sustain.

Close the Loop With Revision

Feedback only matters if students do something with it, so build a short revision step into the assignment. Ask students to respond to two comments by rewriting a paragraph and briefly explaining what they changed. This turns your notes from a verdict into a conversation.

Grading the revision reflection also reveals whether students understood the feedback. A student who rewrites a sentence without understanding why it improved has not yet learned the skill. Those moments tell you where to reteach and which comments need to be worded more clearly next time.