The problem indicated in the title of this article, of course, can only be outlined in it, because it is very extensive and concerns the most fundamental foundations of Lermontov’s creativity. If you like, this is an attempt to explain some ideological paradox that it presents to the gaze of the observer. In fact, the Byronic poet, who did not completely lose touch with the Byronic tradition until the end of his short life, appears to us in his mature years as a reflective poet - a path for Russian literature that is not entirely ordinary and not even entirely natural.