In medias res

  • ‘In medias res’ is a Latin phrase meaning ‘In the middle of things’.

Horace (65-8 BCE)

  • It was an expression coined by Horace to describe how the ideal Epic Poet opens halfway through the story, instead of at the beginning of the story, or ‘Ab Ovo’ meaning ‘from the egg’.
  • When used as a literary device, the story starts in the middle of the plot, then goes back to explain the events leading there, before continuing to the ending.

 

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