Bony frame of English poet digesting opening of elegy (8)
I believe the answer is:
skeleton
'bony frame' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'english poet digesting opening of elegy' is the wordplay.
'english poet' becomes 'Skelton' (16th-century poet John Skelton).
'digesting' is an insertion indicator (inserted letters are eaten or ingested).
'opening of' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'elegy' is 'e'.
'skelton' going around 'e' is 'SKELETON'.
'of' is the link.
(Other definitions for skeleton that I've seen before include "With the team depleted" , "Bony structure" , "This key fits many locks" , "gaunt person" , "Sort of key (found in cupboard?)" .)