Victorian poet laureate (8)
I believe the answer is:
tennyson
'victorian poet laureate' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
This is all the clue.
(Other definitions for tennyson that I've seen before include "Poet, author of "The Lady of Shalott"" , "Alfred -, English poet (In Memoriam)" , "English nineteenth century poet (Maud)" , "Give Sonny ten for the odd old poet" , "Poet Laureate from 1850 to 1892" .)