A. E. Kulakovsky (1877-1926) – the founder of Yakut literature, standing on a par with outstanding representatives of other peoples, passionaries who left their indelible mark in the history of their people – during his lifetime became the focus of the spiritual life of the Yakuts. The people called him yryahy" (‘singer’), since the Yakuts did not have the concept of "poet". He was the first poet who expressed in an artistic word the value-semantic concepts of Yakut mentality, the whole system of values and the completeness of the worldview of his native people.

   Kulakovsky's poetry has been the subject of discussion since the very appearance of his first poems, and on the pages of newspapers and magazines, novice critics of the nascent Yakut literature conducted heated debates about the works of the first poet. However, this difficult period of formation of Yakut criticism became the initial stage of understanding and evaluating the work of the founder of Yakut literature. Researchers of Kulakovsky's work have repeatedly touched upon the issue of periodization of the attitude of criticism to his work, noting the fact that the history of criticism about Kulakovsky is an important part of the history of Yakut literature. The article focuses on the initial stage of the development of criticism.