The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word KEATS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
K
E
A
T
S
More clues leading to the result KEATS
- Romantic author last to attack food
- Steak rare for poet
- Romantic writer inspired by lake at sunset
- . Dine in empty KFCs? That’s romantic!
- King takes courses, becoming great in English verse
- Poet changing yen for krone remains a poet
- Takes off a Romantic author
- Poet seen in stake-out
- Sovereign irritates poet
- Buried in Stoke, at Shelton
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "great in English verse" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case great in english verse = keats.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.