Dialogue of two individual styles: G. V. Ivanov and L. N. Tolstoy

G. V. Ivanov’s works are evaluated in different ways, but no matter what place analysts give him in the poetic hierarchy, two characteristics remain unchangeable. He is one of the most significant Russian poets. His poetic language is often focused on reconsidering the experience of his predecessors, which produces a large number of intertextual connections, which represent a constant of poetic language, one of the codes that allow people to see its true depth and pragmatic overtones. The essay introduces a large body of analytical works on G. V. Ivanov focusing on his similarities and differences with various writers, which often reveal controversies with their worldview and interpretations of creativity. For all the variety of works of this type, so far no one has paid attention to the interaction of G. V. Ivanov and L. N. Tolstoy. The second part of the essay proves that the poem “Kak vy kogda-to razborchivy byli…” (How picky once you were...) contains at least six direct textual and structural links with the story by L. N. Tolstoy “After the Ball” and his model of world outlook. These connections capture the complex nature of ambivalent assessment of Tolstoy’s position, associated with common stereotyping behavior of the nobility. As the semantic analysis reveals, the lyrical hero of G. V. Ivanov is not only in conceptual relationship with the character of L. N. Tolstoy, but he declares similar stereotypes, characterized by axiological similarity and a single archaic coordinate system.