The article raises the question of the innovative potential of literature lessons in connection with the specifics of the subject. On the basis of the phenomena and facts of the change of literature, the understanding of the process as a literary and historical one, in which the literary development factor in its historical perspective and retrospective is at the forefront, is proposed, in comparison with the traditional one. The understanding of innovation in relation to literature lessons is updated. The possibility of innovation arises from the formulation of an unconventional task (topic, position) and the adoption of an unconventional philological and methodological solution, the purpose of which is the deep comprehension of the text or its fragment; the author's view; correction of the established perception, i.e. the establishment of invariants where they are not obvious. Lessons and fragments of lessons in grades 5-11 are offered, which enable the teacher to realize the innovative potential available in the literary source, in the ideas of his predecessors and developed in modern scientific and methodological literature and teaching practice.