Quote work held up as lyrical (6)
I believe the answer is:
poetic
'lyrical' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'quote work held up' is the wordplay.
'quote' becomes 'cite' (synonyms).
'work' becomes 'op' (abbreviation for opus).
'held up' says the letters should be written backwards.
'cite'+'op'='citeop'
'citeop' back-to-front is 'POETIC'.
'as' is the link.
(Other definitions for poetic that I've seen before include "Ice pot (anag.)" , "One sort of licence" , "Having rhythm and beauty" , "Characterized by romantic imagery" , "Characterised by romantic imagery" .)