Poet could be godlier, somehow, in church (9)
I believe the answer is:
coleridge
'poet' is the definition.
(Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1772-1834)
'godlier somehow in church' is the wordplay.
'somehow' is an anagram indicator.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'church' becomes 'CE' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'godlier' with letters rearranged gives 'oleridg'.
'oleridg' placed within 'ce' is 'COLERIDGE'.
'could be' is the link.
(Other definitions for coleridge that I've seen before include "Exponent of art" , "Samuel Taylor . . . . . . . . ., eminent poet" , "Ancient Mariner poet" , "English poet" , "Kubla Khan poet" .)