I have been lurking around here for a while hesitating to come out of hiding, but this calls for a "if somebody (presumably a busy somebody) bothers writing to you, they're interested!" I know nothing about academia (non trad applicant for Comp Lit MA/PhD, never been in a traditional university, never studied in the US), but I'm pretty sure that's a universal rule. Especially if they bothered reading/quoting your SOP, this definitely is not generic. If you have an advisor, you should show them the email and ask them what they think about it (try to guess at what it is trying to assess), if not perhaps share a bit more here?