Ambiguity and Ambivalence in R.A.K. Mason

Abstract

The author examines one of R.A.K. Mason's best known poems, Ecce Homunculus, with concern for some of the poem's ambiguities and the possibility that they reveal ambivalence, or at least a richness of meaning, rather than trivial word games or ineptitude. The Christ figure in the poem could be seen as a disguise for the poet himself, victimized by New Zealand society, but no matter whether Mason saw himself as Christ or not, it is more important to note that his attitude to the Christ figure is ambivalent.