by Jacob Warn This article may be disturbing to some readers, particularly if they are meat-eaters. To understand my story, you have to understand my perspective, which is, currently, about as dark as you can get. Blind, bald, skin-seethed, dead. The action began just three hours ago, although life stretches back six whole weeks. I’m […]
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by Alex Waygood ‘Twas in the early hours of Monday morn That in the libr’y, one could plainly see A boy: who, with hunch’d back and bended neck, Didst type away on music theory. The clock struck three, then four, then five! The college soundly snored – Yet still the lad did keenly strive […]
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by Lucy Mellor A common character description, be it in a novel, short story or play, is ‘doesn’t like change’. Whether said explicitly in the writing or, in the case of more crafty writers, implied by the character’s actions, it often seems to be an easy way of giving their personality that extra quirk, or […]
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Kathy Goudman, 65, lodge porter receptionist at Oriel, takes the rough with the smooth and doesn’t mind being a shoulder to cry on. | Interviewed by Giorgio Scherrer “My mother was the Yorkshire girl, my dad the Londoner. He was too short for the army in World War II, so he was sent down the […]
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by Aidan Chivers I barely had time to walk over to my seat, sit down, and look up nervously before my interviewer fired me the question: ‘So what’s the point of literature?’ Fumbling around frantically for a suitably profound response, I remember stammering something about its potential for uniting people and the common ground it […]
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by David Maw Thursday’s Child Pierre Boulez was born on Thursday 26th March 1925 in the quiet provincial Loire town of Montbrison. An older brother of the same name had been born in 1920 but survived only a few months. His older sister, Jeanne, born in 1922, was to be a staunch supporter and confidante […]
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by Lizzie Searle Coffee coffee coffee Coffee coffee Coffee Fuck off everybody Coffee
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by Tacita McCoy-Parkhill
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A pdf of the print version of Issue #6 – Ritual – can be downloaded here: Issue #6 – Ritual
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by Jacob Warn Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime. So too with happiness. Or so we’d like to believe. But our culture of happiness has long since faded into an Arcadian past, and we are really only left with […]
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by Zixin Jiang Wheaton College’s decision to fire a professor for claiming that Christians and Muslims worship the same God made me think again about an article titled Praying to Aslan, by Bill Wood, which addresses this question and was published in The Poor Print last November. What does it mean for two persons to […]
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by Peter Gent ‘You cannot pass,’ said he, despite his foe. Then all the Orcs stood still among the stone; Retreated eight, dead silence fell, and woe. No fellowship-for Gandalf’s will alone Did face the Balrog’s dreams when he did leave His morbid home and search a higher life. ‘No pass,’ said Gandalf, ‘shall you […]
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by Tobias Thornes Down the dusty road from Jordan into Saudi Arabia I make my slow but steady way. The bus takes me southwards through this dry desert peninsula, on another route frequented by pilgrims from far and wide down the ages. They travel in their millions to Mecca and Medina – those great, ancient […]
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Andrew Boothroyd Strident, assured, passionate, virtuoso. These are not words normally associated with the viola, one of the more modest and inconspicuous members of the orchestral family. But anyone who hasn’t heard the distinctive sound of this unheralded stringed instrument should have been at the Oriel Champagne Concert in Michaelmas Term 2015, where we heard […]
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Dawid Adam Piekarz, 30, barman and scout at Oriel thinks this year’s students are an especially amazing bunch. | Interviewed by Giorgio Scherrer “I first came to Oxford on a Friday. I had flown over from Poland for a job interview, because a friend of mine was working in Hall and had told me that a position […]
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Following Mr Hull valiantly hoping to extort a change in his poetic style, Mr Turnbull (Poetry Editor) formally makes his response: The Poetry Editor’s Response To those who, with the lance of liberty And shield of confidence, are hoping I May overcome ‘Rhyme’s ancient tyranny,’ I must make my response and ask them, why? Why […]
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by Alex Waygood Legacy Monday morning, 0th week, Hilary Term 2016. A text wakes me at 7:47am. That’s about five hours before I usually get up. Groggily, I spot something from my mum about Bowie flash across the screen, and roll back into bed. I resolve to read it later; presumably she’s just heard his […]
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by Madeline Briggs CW: some racial slurs which are key to the argument in this piece have been partially **-ed out, but have not been completely removed as the article discusses the use of those words directly Martin Luther King once said ‘Hate cannot drive out hate-only love can do that’. On 9th April 2015, […]
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A pdf of the print version of Issue #5 – Extortion – can be downloaded here: Issue #5 – Extortion
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A pdf of the print edition of Issue #4 – ‘Fource/Fourth’, in celebration of the new Star Wars film – can be downloaded here: Issue #4 – Force Fourth.
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by Jacob Warn As I levitated bread to my mouth this morning, it was to my horror that I peered into the dropped-jaw-orifices of my breakfast companions. Porridge dripped off the teeth of one; sausage skin coated another’s; sanguine tomato ketchup slathered around the interior of Peter Gent’s. I had just professed love for my […]
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by Peter Gent One of the great benefits of playing massively multiplayer online role playing games, commonly known as MMOs or MMORPGs, is learning about teamwork. My first MMO was World of Warcraft, which I played on my roommate’s account while he was at work. My Night Elf, named Mat, was a tall, muscular rogue […]
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by Elizabeth Stell & George Prew Four o’clock. Halfway through the afternoon, halfway between lunch and supper, it is undeniably time for the greatest and most British of pleasures. This important ritual revives your attention, eroded by three hours of constant reading or writing and allows for a justifiable fifteen minutes, and a cup of […]
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by Tobias Thornes Travelling slowly into the Holy Land, I tread a path taken by countless millions of pilgrims before me, congregating here from every direction. A peculiar power dwells in this small corner of the world, on the Fertile Crescent where human civilisation first found its genesis. A force draws people here – some […]
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by Giorgio Scherrer The battle of Hoth in Star Wars Episode V was just being lost when I casually checked my Twitter account and discovered that this was not an ordinary evening. It was movie night in the JCR, the second film of the evening, and it was 13th November. From about 10pm – when […]
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by Fran Donnellan ‘Please don’t all write about Star Wars!’ came the directive from The Poor Print Editors. But it turns out that scientists have been ignoring such an order since 1977, no doubt making many a journal editor consider joining the Dark Side. With the forthcoming release of the next installment of the Star […]
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by Aidan Chivers “…Lay away, silent corner Side by side, we follow our minds Walk it on, then we trip On the line, wait we are not fine Wait, you are not mine…” Lights are flashing, the air is buzzing, the smoke is dancing. Lucy Rose, as charming, modest and talented as ever, reaches out […]
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by Peter Gent When I first moved to Beijing to study, one of my worst fears involved taking taxis and getting lost. This of course happened soon after I arrived. Trying to get home one day, I flagged down a taxi and handed the driver my address written in Chinese, hoping he understood what I […]
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by Charlie Willis The title of a work of art is more than a simple tool of identification, more than a punchy headline to woo potential readers. It is often one’s first contact with the work of art, the style of the author, and the tone of piece. ‘The moment that counts most for me […]
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by Jacob Warn The translation of art from one medium to another is no new phenomenon. It begins at least as far back as Homer, who depicts tapestries in verse. It continues through the Latin Poets who versified statues, through Giotto who painted biblical frescoes, through the great opera writers who synthesised multiple mediums of […]
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by Carmen Thong It has to be noted that a lot of people would barely think to think about the translation of a text, or indeed the translator (those poor guys mostly get their names written in super small print). But translation is hard work. The process of morphing text from one language into another, […]
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by Christy Callaway-Gale Ready to learn three slang words of Chilean origin? Here they are: weón, weá and weonear. What follows are most intellectually intellectual translations, thoughtfully arranged in easy-to-learn separate paragraphs (#NotStudyingAtOxfordForNothing). Pay attention reader: Weón – ‘Mate’ Just about everyone who speaks to you here thinks you are their weón. Embrace it. #IgoreInstinctiveEnglishness […]
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by Ben Griffiths The first thing that pops into your head when you think of ‘translation’ is probably the act of rendering a text from one language into another, a process seemingly so simple yet often almost unfathomably complicated. Some say it is in reality impossible to make a completely ‘accurate’ translation, since languages are so […]
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Rory Turnbull (Poetry Editor) has been criticised of late for writing nothing but sonnets. As Matthew Hull sets forth in his polemic treatise: So Rory Turnbull writes in sonnet form? And doth to write in other forms refuse? For “poorer poets write in multiform Barbaric meters which no structure use. There is no room for […]
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by Aidan Chivers In the year 458 BC, things were not looking good for Rome. Just recovering from internal frictions between patricians and plebeians, the relentless onslaught from their enemies the Aequi was becoming increasingly alarming. At a time of such desperation it fell upon one man to step up and lead the Romans, to […]
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by Salma Barma, Matthew Hull & Zixin Jiang An international education today means long flights, private schools and the International Baccalaureate (IB). It is seen as a standard of elite education and a key to prestigious universities. Pessimists among us would argue that it has become characteristic of a social class preoccupied with self-advancement and […]
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by Bill Wood ‘Do Jews, Christians and Muslims worship the same God even if some have some false beliefs about God?’ I think the answer is yes. The line I would take is that Jews, Christians, and Muslims intend to worship the same God, and their intention is enough to fix the reference of their […]
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by Sam Wilkinson Software, in its many forms, has utterly devoured modern life. The ubiquity of digital automation in today’s world cannot be overstated, and there are few hints that the relentless progress of technology will abate any time soon. Many students will be acutely aware that this has led to generic ‘computer literacy’ becoming […]
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A Shakespearian Sonnet Translation by Jade Tinslay J.V In bygone days thy love I held alone and thought it ever would to me belong. I spurned thy company and will atone thy face I could not count in beauty’s throng. Alas, another sought thee at first sight, ’tis past the hour for me to gaze […]
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by Emily Smith Last summer I was fairly determined to leave the UK. Taking advantage of that gloriously low effort skill of speaking one’s own native language, I headed to Nanchang, Jianxi in China where I taught English to high school and university students. I learnt a lot, but one thing I really didn’t learn […]
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The Poor Print 