Peter Redgrove, 71; Interest in Nature Shaped His Poetry

Peter Redgrove, 71, a prolific poet whose background as a psychologist and interest in the natural world shaped much of his work, died Monday in Falmouth, in southwest England, British newspapers reported. He was battling Parkinson’s disease, the Daily Telegraph has reported.

Redgrove had published about 30 collections of poetry, 10 works of fiction, more than a dozen plays and three nonfiction books. He won a number of literary awards, including the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 1996.

Much of Redgrove’s poetry focused on the natural world, and he often wrote about the things around him in a mystical, fantastical way.

The Guardian newspaper said his work was filled with “humor and exuberance.”

“The poems can be absurdly funny and patently serious at the same time,” the paper said in an obituary.

Born in Kingston upon Thames, Redgrove studied at Cambridge University, where the poet Ted Hughes was among his close friends.

He left Cambridge before graduation to become a scientific copywriter in London, then trained in Jungian psychology.

He was visiting poet at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1961-62 and taught at Colgate University in 1974 and 1975.