Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky (; – ) was a Russian poet, essayist and playwright who helped lay the foundations of classical
Russian literature.
Biography
The son of a poor priest, Trediakovsky became the first Russian commoner to receive a
humanistic education abroad, at the
Sorbonne in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
(1727–1730) where he studied philosophy, linguistics and mathematics.
[ Soon after his return to Russia, he became acting secretary of the Academy of Sciences and ''de facto'' court poet.
In 1735, Trediakovsky published ''A New and Brief Way for Composing of Russian Verses'' (), a highly theoretical work for which he is best remembered.][ It discussed for the first time in Russian literature such poetic genres as the ]sonnet
A sonnet is a fixed poetic form with a structure traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set Rhyme scheme, rhyming scheme. The term derives from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (, from the Latin word ''sonus'', ). Originating in ...
, the rondeau, the madrigal, and the ode.
In 1740, Trediakovsky received a physical beating at the hands of the imperial minister Artemy Volynsky. 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."Russian language
Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...
. He continued his advocacy of poetic reform in ''On Ancient, Middle, and New Russian Poetry'' () in 1752.
Trediakovsky was also a prolific translator of classical authors, medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
philosophers, and French literature
French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...
. His translations frequently aroused the ire of the censors, and he fell into disfavour with his Academy superiors and conservative court circles. In 1759, he was dismissed from the Academy. His last major work was a translation of François Fénelon's (1766; ), which he rendered in Russian hexameter
Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek as well as in Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of s ...
s. His works marked the transition from syllabic versification to metric verse, more suited to the sound of the Russian tongue.
See also
* Mikhail Lomonosov, who created the basis of the modern Russian literary language
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trediakovsky, Vasily
1703 births
1769 deaths
University of Paris alumni
Male poets from the Russian Empire
Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences
Orthographers
18th-century translators from the Russian Empire
18th-century poets from the Russian Empire