Poet sort of saw New York society forced inside (8)
I believe the answer is:
tennyson
'poet' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'sort of saw new york society forced inside' is the wordplay.
'sort of saw' becomes 'tenon' (tenon saw is a type of saw).
'new york' becomes 'ny'.
'society' becomes 's' (common abbreviation in names of organisations).
'forced inside' is an insertion indicator.
'ny'+'s'='nys'
'tenon' placed around 'nys' is 'TENNYSON'.
(Other definitions for tennyson that I've seen before include "English 10 across" , "Alfred -, English poet (In Memoriam)" , "Alfred Lord . . . . . . . . great English poet" , "Poet Laureate from 1850 to 1892" , "writer" .)