The article treats the problem of the literary text from the perspective of intellectual, aesthetic and moral education. The correct understanding of the aesthetic function of the literary work, according to the statement of some aestheticians, is of fundamental importance for the study of literature. At the same time, the author notes that this understanding depends on avoiding the transformation of commentary on the works into a sociological, historical, philosophical, moral-citizen conversation, as is still done, in a completely wrong way. And moral value develops spontaneously from the experience of aesthetic value.