College poet's superior to church bully (6)
I believe the answer is:
coerce
'bully' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'college poet's superior to church' is the wordplay.
'college' becomes 'c'.
'poet's superior' becomes 'o'er' (poetic spelling of 'over').
'to church' becomes 'CE' (Church of England).
'c'+'oer'+'ce'='COERCE'
(Other definitions for coerce that I've seen before include "Persuade (the unwilling) by force" , "Force (someone) to do something" , "Make or compel" , "Oblige by force" , "Persuade using threats" .)