As an alternative to the realistic and the symbolic, I propose poetic readings [for opera] as the most rewarding path…Unlike most narrative fiction, poetry possesses a natural aptitude for ambiguity; it’s looser, more associative, and more interested in poetical meanings that arise from familiar words being used in unfamiliar ways…Narrative fiction is inclined to adhere closer to the experience of a chronicle, and opera, in the era of cinema and realistic theater, now tends to that experience as well.