A Fall of Marigolds

Clara tells Ethan that poets “shouldn’t be vague” and should not “shroud [their] meaning[s] in obscurity” (157). Ethan replies that people who enjoy poetry might argue that “obscurity is part of a poem’s charm” (157). Is part of the enjoyment of poetry deciding what the poet might have meant, or would it be more enjoyable if the message were clearer?

Clara wonders most about the last two lines of Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn”: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all/Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” What do you think these lines mean, and why is this meaning significant to the narrative? 

What is the central message of the text overall? What might the author want readers to know or understand after reading A Fall of Marigolds?