Died 1971

 

Most critics regard R.A.K. Mason as New Zealand’s first authentic poet with a poetic intensity attributed in part, to his extraordinary youth. He was only 19 when he published his first collection of poems and most of his ‘Collected Poems’ were written before he turned 25.

 

By 1941 he virtually ceased writing poetry but he continued to work in left wing theatre. He wrote plays and edited a Communist newspaper. He was also Assistant Secretary of the Auckland Builders and General Labourers’ Union. He received the Robert Burns Fellowship from Otago University in 1962.R.A.K. Mason 1905-1971 is buried in Block E, Row 57, Plot 112.

R.A.K. Mason
Died 1971
Block E, Row 57, Plot 112.

View a service online