Ampleforth the Poet
The beauty of a character like Ampleforth is that the reader can learn so much chilling information about the Party's views from his mere inclusion and existence in the novel. Maybe you're not a huge fan of poetry—it can be a bit confusing, after all—but just think about how scary Ampleforth's job is for a second. The government has a staff of people, poets, who rewrite old poetry, which is supposed to be a prime example of self-expression and true feeling...and what do they turn it into? Love poems to Big Brother. That's right—basically love poems to the symbol of a government that routinely imprisons and tortures its citizens and constantly watches them in their daily lives.
So what does Ampleforth's job mean, really? Well, he reads old poems every day and rewrites them, which does take a bit of poet finesse. He takes out any mention of God or religion, any public figure pre-Big Brother, and basically anything that has nothing to do with Big Brother or the Party. He then has to rewrite the poem, sometimes almost entirely. He might have to take out words or even whole lines or phrases.
Want to read Shakespeare's sonnets? Nope, you can't. Those have been rewritten, probably, as Odes to Big Brother's Mustache. The sad thing is, though, that nobody cares. Oceanians have been so conditioned that they don't even know what they're missing. Well, everyone except Ampleforth, maybe.
Ampleforth's End
The reader learns of Ampleforth's fate late in the novel, although you can feel he is not destined for a happy one from the beginning. After Winston Smith has been arrested and taken to the Ministry of Love, or the re-education and torture center, he runs into his old buddy Ampleforth. What on earth is he doing here?
Well, it's a sad story. Ampleforth was hard at work, doing his job, rewriting a Kipling poem. But he was struggling with rewriting a certain line that had the word ''God'' in it. Like a true writer, he banged his head against a wall for days trying to come up with a suitable replacement, anything to substitute. But alas, he tells Winston. He couldn't find a rhyme that worked within the poem. So he simply refused to take out ''God.'' Big mistake.
The authorities came down hard, arrested Ampleforth, and took him to the Ministry of Love. It's shown to the reader, though, that Ampleforth does take pride in this action—he's a poet, after all, and he stays true to his work, unapologetic until he's removed from the holding cell and is seen no more, presumably tortured and disposed of.
Lesson Summary
Ampleforth is a poet character from George Orwell's novel, 1984. He rewrites poetry so it glorifies Big Brother and works in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth, the government ministry that churns out all the propaganda and rewrites history and fine art. Ampleforth is a poet at heart, a true lover of language—as evidenced by his eventual arrest over his refusal to edit the word ''God'' in a Kipling poem. Yes, Ampleforth leaves in a word forbidden by the government, making a stand against Big Brother that only a true poet could.
