Your list is solid. Knox has an exceptional English Dept. They also offer excellent merit aid. My son is starting there in the fall.
Take a look at the College of Wooster, Kalamazoo College, Beloit, Denison, Lawrence University. The book Colleges that Change Lives has an excellent list of liberal arts colleges (many in the Midwest) that offer merit aid. There is also a website for this unofficial college consortium. Most of those schools are selective, but not insanely so. They take a broader variety of students and therefore high stats kids often get merit.
Kenyon, Grinnell and Oberlin are outstanding choices, too. They are , however, extremely selective.
If you would venture east, try Allegheny and Bard.