The day before he wrote a divine comedy (5)
I believe the answer is:
dante
'he wrote a divine comedy' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.
'the day before' is the wordplay.
'the day' becomes 'd' (abbreviation for day).
'before' becomes 'ante' (prefix meaning 'before').
'd'+'ante'='DANTE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dante that I've seen before include "Net Da a poet" , "Finally stand before" , "22 [FT SETTER]" , "Great Italian poet of 'The Divine Comedy'" , "La divina commedia poet" .)