Possible Clues:

• 17th century English poet
• Get the water off Ned the poet up there
• 7's retreat unlike pub?
• Study applied to uninteresting poet
• Dramatist is less than fascinating to study
• 17th-c. poet laureate
• Writer's cold study
• Not a damp lair for the poet
• Poet laureate, 1668-1689
• ''Absalom and Achitophel'' poet John