The article examines the poetic texts of a bright representative of the literary trend of the twentieth century, the ―quiet‖ lyrics of Nikolai Rubtsov. In the process of formation of N. Rubtsov as a poet, A. Pushkin, F. Tyutchev, A. Fet and others played an important role. He studied with the best poets on the material of their works, their images. Among his teachers, the poet named M.Y. Lermontov. This shows continuity in literature, in the ability to understand and accept the position of the author-predecessor, to take the best from the poetic world of the teacher and bring a new image, individually authorial, innovative, into his verse. In the cognitive analysis of a poetic text, it is necessary to take into account associative connections, to know literary trends and traditions. These components form a special poetic world, which is special for each poet.