This fifth course in the literature core aims to provide students with an overview of a very rich and significant period in English Writing. Romantic Literature is arguably the most popular and familiar period and form of writing in English and this course hopes to revisit some of its most central themes – our relationship with nature, our notion of the ​“individual” and place in social structures – in the light of how these continue to be very relevant for us today. This course will enable students to identify important forms, genres and issues that emerge in a historical context while also evaluating the impact of studying these in the present, especially in the context of India. While the course will introduce students to ideas about authorship, literature, rights and the public sphere, all of which were being consolidated in the 18^th century, it will also enable them to explore for themselves how these ideas impacted writers and readers at the time as well as in the present.