Poet, Italian flower, died on lake (6)
I believe the answer is:
arnold
'poet' is the definition.
(19th-century poet Matthew Arnold)
'italian flower died on 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).
'on' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'lake' becomes 'L' (geographical abbreviation).
'd' after 'l' is 'ld'.
'arno'+'ld'='ARNOLD'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for arnold that I've seen before include "Another poet" , "Matthew --, English poet" , "Essayist" , "Headmaster, poet or composer" , "Sir Malcolm -, English composer" .)