How did R.A.K. Mason contribute to early modern New Zealand poetry?

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New Zealand literature Front cover of the Spiral Press first edition of Keri Hulme's *The Bone People* (1983).

R.A.K. Mason was a pivotal figure in the development of early modern New Zealand poetry. Alongside Katherine Mansfield, he is recognized as one of the first genuinely original writers in the country, with his work beginning to appear in the 1920s.1

Mason is credited as one of the first poets to stand out in the 20th century, marking a transition away from the colonial versifiers of the 19th century. His notable contributions include the collections In the Manner of Men (1923) and his Collected Poems (1962). By emerging during this period, Mason helped establish a foundation for the national tradition of writing that would be further developed by later poets in the 1930s.21