Ampleforth's forte is words. The man is a born poet who nonetheless shamelessly abuses his talents in service of the regime. As part of his job in the Records Department at the Ministry of Truth he rewrites poems written before the revolution—Oldspeak poems—to glorify Big Brother. Ampleforth's work is a further example of how this dictatorial regime manipulates language to serve its own ends.

For a while, Ampleforth gets with the program and expertly makes government propaganda out of famous poems. But there are limits, even for a humble state functionary like Ampleforth. Disillusioned with turning some of the greatest works of the English language into vomit-inducing love-letters to a crazed tyrant, he refuses to remove the word "God" from one of Rudyard Kipling's poems.

In the socialist "paradise" of Oceania, belief in a transcendent deity is strictly forbidden. There's only one God here, and that's Big Brother. No one else is worthy of unconditional worship and adoration. God has been removed from society, and so must also be expunged from any works of literature. Ampleforth's refusal to do this lands him in hot water with the authorities and he is imprisoned for his defiance.