Countless and sometimes elusive threads connected Lermontov’s work with Pushkin’s legacy. At one time, these connections were defined in one word: “influence.” This concept was abandoned long ago, because the range of connections turned out to be very wide: from direct apprenticeship, quotations, imitation in the early years to peculiar creative competitions in the mature period; sometimes even unconscious competitions, when a younger poet turns to already developed older poetic motifs and themes, giving them his own, original interpretation. These cases of creative contact may be the most interesting, but they are also the most difficult to study. Through the mouth of Lermontov a new literary era spoke, now assimilating and now overestimating the heritage of its teachers. What was taken from this heritage belonged to her by right of conquest - but at the same time it also belonged to tradition. That is why, watching how Lermontov, already a mature master, develops and modifies Pushkin, we study not only Lermontov, but also Pushkin, for the eye of a great artist is able to catch in his predecessors what is inaccessible to the eye of an ordinary reader and researcher.< /p>