This poet's through to listeners (5)
I believe the answer is:
donne
'this poet's' is the definition.
(Donne is an example)
'through to listeners' is the wordplay.
'through' becomes 'done' (synonyms).
'to listeners' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'done' sounds like 'DONNE'.
(Other definitions for donne that I've seen before include "English preacher and metaphysical poet, d. 1631" , "basic assumption" , "Writer of poetry" , "John -, English poet" .)