Poet, Italian flower, died around lake (6)
I believe the answer is:
arnold
'poet' is the definition.
(19th-century poet Matthew Arnold)
'italian flower died around lake' is the wordplay.
'italian flower' becomes 'arno' (Italian river. I am not sure about the 'italian' bit.).
'died' becomes 'd' (abbreviation next to the year of someone's death).
'around' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'lake' becomes 'L' (geographical abbreviation).
'arno'+'d'='arnod'
'arnod' placed around 'l' is 'ARNOLD'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for arnold that I've seen before include "Victorian poet" , "Matthew --; -- Bennett" , "Sir Malcolm -, English composer" , "Overcome (obstacle)" , "-- Wesker, playwright" .)