Ampleforth's Futile Art

Follows the poet Ampleforth, whose loyalty to a rhyme leads him to the Ministry of Love.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Hairy-Eared Poet

The Hairy-Eared Poet The Translator Ampleforth is a mild, ineffectual creature with very hairy ears and a surprising talent for rhyming and metre. His job is to produce 'definitive texts' of poems that have become ideologically offensive. The Reluctant Worker He can be seen in the Records Department, hunched over his work, trying to make old poems fit the new orthodoxy. He hates what he does but cannot refuse. The Humanity Ampleforth is one of the few people in the Ministry who seems to care about words for their own sake. That is his crime.

The Kipling Rhyme

The Kipling Rhyme The Single Word Ampleforth is arrested because he allowed the word 'God' to remain at the end of a line in a Kipling poem. There were only twelve rhymes to 'rod' in the entire language, and he could find no other. The Pedant's Joy Even in prison, he brightens when he discusses the history of English poetry and the lack of rhymes. His mind still lives in a world of aesthetic concerns. The Clash The Party does not care about the quality of verse; it cares about the presence of unorthodox words. Ampleforth's art is a form of thoughtcrime he cannot comprehend.

Led to Room 101

Led to Room 101 The Iron Order A young officer enters the cell and says 'Room 101' to Ampleforth. The poet marches out clumsily, his face vaguely perturbed but not understanding what awaits him. The Unknown Horror Winston has already learned that Room 101 is the worst thing in the world for each individual. Ampleforth, who loves words, will be destroyed by whatever wordless terror the Party has chosen. The End Ampleforth disappears, another unperson. His fate shows that even the gentlest devotion to art cannot survive the Ministry of Love.

early chapters, in the canteen and Records Department

in the cell, as Ampleforth explains his arrest

later in the cell scene