From whom royal lines emanate (4,8)
I believe the answer is:
poet laureate
'from whom royal lines emanate' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'from whom royal lines' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'from' could be 'o' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'o' is found within the answer.
'royal' could be 'r' (abbreviation) and 'r' is found in the answer.
'lines' could be 'l' (abbreviation as in lines of poetry) and 'l' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for poet laureate that I've seen before include "such as Tennyson" , "Official versifier" , "Court verse writer" , "Court versifier" , "Motion or Duffy, for example" .)