[1] The son of a poor priest, Trediakovsky became the first Russian commoner to receive a humanistic education abroad, at the Sorbonne in Paris (1727–1730) where he studied philosophy, linguistics and mathematics.

In 1735, Trediakovsky published A New and Brief Way for Composing of Russian Verses (Novy i kratky sposob k slozheniyu rossiyskikh stikhov), a highly theoretical work for which he is best remembered.

Volynsky was arrested on charges of conspiracy and misconduct, but Trediakovsky became, "a subject of constant mockery", according to Elif Batuman: "His very propensity for receiving physical abuse became a popular comic premise.

He continued his advocacy of poetic reform in On Ancient, Middle, and New Russian Poetry (O drevney, sredney i novoy rossiyskoy poyezii) in 1752.

His last major work was a translation of François Fénelon's Les Aventures de Télémaque (1766; Tilemakhida), which he rendered in Russian hexameters.