The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word SCHILLER
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
S
C
H
I
L
L
E
R
More clues leading to the result SCHILLER
- Second spine-tingling tale for German writer
- Great poet‘s school gets worse
- Dramatic writer of second horror film?
- Opening to sensational ghost story from this German author
- Playwright succeeded with horror story
- Poet‘s not doing so well raising small children
- Poet‘s son unfriendly towards Ezra oddly
- Second freezer
- US producer of singular film that arouses terror?
- German writer is calmer, having spent time going round church
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Great poet" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case great poet = schiller.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.