Possible Clues:

• Benedict XVI, e.g
• Old man, English poet
• One of five Nicholases
• Alexander --, English poet (1688-1744)
• Poet's page to begin poetically
• Poet finds novelist burying his head
• Fabian, for one
• Alexander, poet or religious leader? Depends on order
• Francis or John Paul II, e.g
• The leading Catholic essayist