Quick Facts
- Latin:
- “from the egg”
- Related Topics:
- literature
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ab ovo
literature
ab ovo, in literature, the practice of beginning a poetic narrative at the earliest possible chronological point. The Latin poet and critic Horace approvingly notes in Ars poetica that Homer does not begin a tale of the Trojan War with the twin egg from which Helen was born but rather in the middle of events.
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