Mother, close to ground, heard playwright (7)
I believe the answer is:
marlowe
'playwright' is the definition.
(christopher marlowe)
'mother close to ground heard' is the wordplay.
'mother' becomes 'ma' (ma is a kind of mother).
'close to ground' becomes 'low'.
'heard' shows a homophone (sound like).
'ma'+'low'='malow'
'malow' is a homophone of 'MARLOWE'.
(Other definitions for marlowe that I've seen before include "Christopher -, sixteenth English dramatist" , "writer" , "Kit" , "English poet" , "Christopher -, playwright (Tamburlaine)" .)