US essayist Ralph Waldo (7)

I believe the answer is:

emerson

(Other definitions for emerson that I've seen before include "American writer, 1803-82" , "Ralph Waldo --, US author" , "Ralph Waldo ......., 19th century American transcendentalist" , "American poet and philosopher, d. 1882" , "Ralph Waldo . . . . . . ., wrote The American Scholar" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sun.

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