The original question asks how much a poem should be understandable. I wonder if that's different from asking how much a poem should communicate. I think a poem can convey a mood, a emotional tone, without my necessarily being able to understand much of what's going on in the sense of plot, story, context etc., and that can be enough I think. A poem can also be completely clear and communicate very little in this respect. So perhaps the issue is more whether or not the poem/poet is trying to communicate with the reader (and succeeding). Or at least, I think that may be an issue for me.
But even that is probably too narrow. I guess it's just that case that there are a variety of things that can make a poem enjoyable or affecting, and not all of those are dependent on being able to understand it.
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