Pilgrim, speaking directly, left home (8)
I believe the answer is:
franklin
'pilgrim' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'speaking directly left home' is the wordplay.
'speaking directly' becomes 'frank' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation).
'home' becomes 'in' ('he's home' can mean 'he's in').
'frank'+'l'+'in'='FRANKLIN'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for franklin that I've seen before include "Benjamin or Roosevelt" , "Statesman" , "One with a tale to tell" , "[PILGRIM in the CANTERBURY TALES]" , "old landowner" .)