Beauty – The Poor Print

Issue #42 – Beauty

A PDF of the print version of Issue #42 – Beauty – can be downloaded here.

by Samanwita Sen You have always marvelled at the immaculate gloss of supermarket aisles, the shiny pages of magazine covers categorized into pristine, neat little sections which spring out to accost you with a lurid burst of colour; lurid, precisely to compensate for the depthless caricatures they celebrate; lurid, as if in contrived rebellion against […]

Creative Writing, Prose

Spring [1/4]

by Leo Gillard ‘Ready?’ Arthur asked, his eyes fixed on the building in front of them. It was… small. The garden was covered in weeds, the grass overgrown, leaves still on the ground from autumn. The house itself was built of red brick, a squat-looking bungalow with shuttered windows, the blue paint of the door […]

Culture, Prose

Heartless Love

by Martin Yip The Chinese writing system is one of the most beautiful currently in use. Compared to alphabets, whose characters are phonographic (meaning they represent sounds), Chinese characters are logographic: each character represents a word or phrase. The result is a system that elegantly condenses information, and rich in aesthetic value. Around two millennia […]

Humour, Prose

‘Dear Beary…’ [5]

by Beary McBearface Beary McBearface, treasured Oriel mascot and JCR staple, is here to help you with your troubles. In this column, Beary will attempt to find solutions to your little college worries; trust him, he’s seen it all. All you need to do is email thepoorprint@oriel.ox.ac.uk with the subject line ‘Dear Beary’, and if you’re lucky your […]

Creative Writing, Prose

A Scene

by Monim Wains Crisp air blows at my hands and ears; spring breaks from winter. Some days that chill and others that mellow. Freshness surrounds me now; everything filtered with a screen of sunlight behind the clouds. The green grass is shaded a slight yellow, as if the air is coloured warm. My legs are […]

Poetry

Narcissus

by David Asamoah A thousand suns had come and gone before himWhat made this one so special? So enchanting That even now he’d sit and wait adoring The golden light shine on the stream, and dancing Pebbles swirl in the low tide returning To kiss the worn out coast. On that still morning The sky […]

Comment, Prose

Searching for Beauty in Law

by Zixin Jiang Having come to law from a background in philosophy, I’m sometimes asked which of the two I like better. The two are similar, e.g. they both test a combination of logical and verbal skills. I find both very interesting. Philosophy can be very abstract sometimes, whereas law has a more obvious practical […]

Artwork, Cartoon

Luna

by Monim Wains

Prose

On Sonnets

by David Asamoah Their dark thoughts are eclipsed by blinding love For her sweet soul, it’s all their hearts can see As martyr’s sights are fixed on realms above And reason dies to set their chained thoughts free There’s no shame in that trip to martyrdom As in their wills, for her their hearts have […]