The article is devoted to one of the most contentious issues in for researchers studying the literary works of Lermontov – the creative status of the last three editions of the poem «Demon». The author relies on the fact of censorship permission of 11 March 1839 to print of the poem, but it hasnʼt changed, however, the Lermontovʼs decision not to publish this text. This article discusses possible causes of restraint of the poet and, in connection with it, compares the key descriptions in the 6th edition with subsequent ones. Based on this comparison, the author concludes that the 6th, «Lopushinskyʼs» revision is not final and does not reflect in the full scope Lermontovʼs conception, so from December 1838 to the beginning of the 1839 the semantics of poem was changed fundamentally.