Poet died at the stake (5)
I believe the answer is:
dante
'poet' is the definition.
(Dante is an example)
'died at the stake' is the wordplay.
'died' becomes 'd'.
'at' says to put letters next to each other.
'the stake' becomes 'ante' (ante is a kind of stake).
'd'+'ante'='DANTE'
(Other definitions for dante that I've seen before include "Inferno poet" , "Great Italian poet of 'The Divine Comedy'" , "Thirteenth-fourteenth century Italian poet" , "Thirteenth to fourteenth century Italian poet" , "Net Da a poet" .)