# Ova — Poetry character guide > Ova in Poetry by Mina Loy. **Role:** major **Also known as:** X Ova **First appearance:** 0000-there-is-no-life-or-death ## Snapshot A girl raised among pinched governesses and suburban proprieties, Ova's consciousness uncurls against England's nursery pieties, printing impressions of a self the neighbors call monstrous. ## Who they are Ova grows up in middle-class Britain, surrounded by governesses and nurses who let life alone lest it discomfort them, while her mother's vagaries drift through the household. Her childhood is anemic hours devoid of vitality, and the neighbors read her as palpable evidence of a criminal born. Her unformulated education—raw experience rather than national instigation—makes her the book's central lens on how a self gets made, and unmade, under the pressure of family and nation. ## Relationships ### [Nurse](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/characters/nurse) _professional_ The Nurse appears to be Ova's caretaker or attendant, with frequent interactions suggesting daily care or supervision. ### [Exodus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/characters/exodus) _romantic_ Exodus and Ova share a deep, possibly romantic bond, with high interaction frequency indicating emotional intimacy. ### [Giovanni Bapini](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/characters/giovanni_bapini) _rivalry_ Giovanni Bapini and Ova are locked in a tense rivalry, possibly over status or affection, with frequent confrontations. ### [Miss Bunn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/characters/miss_bunn) _friendship_ Miss Bunn and Ova appear to be close friends or confidantes, sharing secrets and support. ### [Raminetti](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/characters/raminetti) _social_ Ova and Raminetti are acquaintances, with limited but notable interactions in social settings. ### [Elena](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/characters/elena) _friendship_ Elena and Ova are friends, with Elena offering companionship and support to Ova. ### [Danriel Gabrunzio](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/characters/danriel_gabrunzio) _social_ Danriel Gabrunzio and Ova are casual acquaintances, interacting infrequently but cordially. ### [Jehovah](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/characters/jehovah) _psychological_ Jehovah and Ova have a tense, possibly manipulative dynamic, with Jehovah exerting control or obsession. ## In the story ### [July in Vallombrosa](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/july-in-vallombrosa) The daughter of the old lady, who spends her life chasing moments and tending to her mother's illness, losing her own desires in the process. ### [To You](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/to-you) Addressed as 'you'—a hybrid-negro figure, incognito, alien in the city. ### [The Black Virginity](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/the-black-virginity) The speaker reflects on her own bewilderment and dislocation, contrasting her experience with the regimented lives of the baby priests. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/ii) The speaker's voice suggests Ova's internal struggle with identity and bodily existence. ### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/v) The speaker, undecided and isolated in the midnight street. ### [XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/xvii) Likely speaker; disoriented and introspective, counting fringe and sensing spatial distortion. ### [Der Blinde Junge](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/der-blinde-junge) Implied observer or embodiment of the blind youth's experience, reflecting themes of alienation and sensory void. ### [Anglo-Mongrels and the Rose](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/anglo-mongrels-and-the-rose) Ova is the central child figure, experiencing maternal hostility, religious confusion, and the oppressive atmosphere of Kilburn. She is introspective and sensitive, craving affection and understanding. ### [Mongrel Rose](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/mongrel-rose) Born to Exodus and Ada, Ova experiences a loveless, oppressive childhood in Kilburn, marked by her mother's resentment and her own imaginative escapes. ### [Ada Gives Birth to Ova](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/ada-gives-birth-to-ova) The newborn, a 'breathing baby mystero-chemico Nemesis,' inheriting a mongrel heart and a Jewish brain, fed on Benger's food for infants. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/ii) Exodus's child, propped on a chair and told to hush. ### [Ova Begins to Take Notice](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/ova-begins-to-take-notice) The infant protagonist, beginning to take notice of her surroundings and grappling with self-identification. ### [Psychic Larva](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/psychic-larva) The child of Exodus, subjected to her mother's psychic larva and sub-carnal anger, her intuition stamped by parental disequilibrium. ### [Christ's Regrettable Reticence](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/christ-s-regrettable-reticence) Ova contemplates the hidden nature of Jesus, wishing he would come out into the open, and is influenced by a housemaid's story about absolution. ### [Enter Colossus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/enter-colossus) Mentioned in the final line as the subject of Christian introspection, juxtaposed with Colossus's monstrous behavior. ### [Ova. Among. The. Neighbours.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/ova-among-the-neighbours) Central consciousness whose subjective experience is shaped by and contrasted with the collective norms of her English neighbours. ### [Ova Has Governesses](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/ova-has-governesses) Ova suffers from the anaemia of monotonous hours and the oppressive care of her governesses. ### [Jews and Ragamuffins of Kilburn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/jews-and-ragamuffins-of-kilburn) Ova experiences fear and horror during her walk in Kilburn, observing the common children and the trapped girl. ### [The Surprise](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/the-surprise) Ova is the child protagonist who is falsely accused of peeping into the surprise basket, called a liar, and expelled from the house. ### [Illumination](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/illumination) Experiences a mystical illumination in the garden, losing bodily consciousness and entering a state of bliss. ### [Contraction](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/contraction) The contracting consciousness experiencing the defilement of the garden and the smashed egg. ### [The Gift](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/the-gift) Ova asks her father for a sovereign to buy a 'circus universe,' experiencing a moment of exalted beauty and destiny before being disillusioned. ### [Ova Accepts the Popular Estimate of Humanity](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/ova-accepts-the-popular-estimate-of-humanity) Accepts Christ as a sacrificial prototype and the disturbing physical sensations of her flesh as divine destinies, under maternal coercion. ### [Religious Instruction](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/religious-instruction) X Ova's consciousness is described as impulsive to commit to justice and to walk its innate straight way out of circumstance; she is a child of Exodus who often 'sets out to seek her fortune' and runs away, only to be delivered back by the streets of Kilburn. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/characters/ova - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/characters