Place to study poetry or the cosmos (8)
I believe the answer is:
universe
'the cosmos' is the definition.
('universe' can be a synonym of 'cosmos')
'place to study poetry' is the wordplay.
'place to study' becomes 'uni' (university).
'poetry' becomes 'verse' (synonyms).
'uni'+'verse'='UNIVERSE'
'or' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for universe that I've seen before include "Everything that exists, everywhere" , "all we know?" , "The whole world" , "The whole of everything" , "Cosmos" .)