Poet’s carrying lecturer's staff (4)
I believe the answer is:
pole
'staff' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'poet's carrying lecturer's' is the wordplay.
'poet' becomes 'Poe' (Edgar Allan Poe).
'carrying' indicates putting letters inside.
'lecturer' becomes 'l'.
'poe' going around 'l' is 'POLE'.
(Other definitions for pole that I've seen before include "Limit" , "may be magnetic?" , "Man from Warsaw" , "Native of Warsaw" , "support" .)