On the example of poetry, this paper explores intellectual modus of creativity as expression of tendency of artistic thinking in the 20th century. Intellectualization is interpreted as “directed thinking” (C. G. Jung), i.e. rationality that dominates in creativity. The paper outlines deёning mindsets of intellectual type of creativity: self-consciousness of art, reяection of gnosis, priority of aesthetics over ethics, alienated lyricism. Diversity of forms is illustrated by poetic examples of older symbolist V. Bryusov, futurist V. Khlebnikov, member of the absurdist group OBERIu N. Zabolotsky, neofuturist N. Glazkov, naturalistic philosopher A. Tarkovsky and minimalistic conceptualist V. Nekrasov. Intellectual type of creativity, along with visibly frozen spiritual processes, shows speciёc passion for possessing the absolute truth. This truth can be shown as universal idea (for instance, common unity, panlogism, hylozoism) or as a way of thinking (in examined cases – as aestheticism, Glazkov’s unprecedentism, conceptualism), which maximally approached the undogmatic, heuristic understanding of essence of nature of things and relations.