What gets dramatists going before a poet (5)
I believe the answer is:
dante
'poet' is the definition.
(13th- and 14th-century Italian poet)
'what gets dramatists going before a' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'before' could be 'ante' (prefix meaning 'before') and 'ante' is found in the answer.
A single letter 'd' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dante that I've seen before include "Italian poet, writer of the Divine Comedy" , "Finally stand before" , "Net Da a poet" , "Poet inspired by Beatrice" , "Italian poet, 1265-1321" .)