When is dropping the definite (or indefinite) article permissible and why?

As a rule we would drop the article in a prepositional phrase when the noun was plural or a countless sense:

They watched with gazes of horror

Cooked in milk.

It was though once more common to drop the article when the preposition was used to supply a state that applies to the previous clause:

That slepen al the nyght with open eye [Chaucer, "General Prologue", Canterbury Tales]

This is the use that both Wilde and Poe used. However, both of these poets would sometimes use language that was old-fashioned even for their day, so as well as fitting the meter, the unusual usage adds a degree of emphasis.

It's not a use that one should normally use today.

An indefinite article suggests that there are others like this (a book, another book ...).

A definite article implies not only that this is the only one (the Tower of London, the tree at the bottom of the garden ...), but also more subtly, that the nature and limits of the subject are known.

The absence of an article, definite or indefinite, draws attention to the subject - what is this thing that we cannot number or give limits to ?