Romantic Literature is arguably the most popular and familiar period and form of writing in English and the course hopes to revisit some of its most central themes – our relationship with nature, our notion of the ​“individual” and our place in social structures – in the light of how these continue to be relevant for us today. You will learn how the material conditions in which writing in any age is produced can be used to interpret texts. While the course will introduce you 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 you to explore for yourself how these ideas impacted writers and readers at the time and continue to impact them in the present, especially in the context of India.