Odoevsky was born in St. Petersburg to Major General Ivan Sergeyevich Odoevsky and Princess Praskovya Alexandrovna Odoevskaya, who was his father's cousin. He received a home education and was interested in literature from a young age.

In accordance with the traditions of noble families, on February 11, 1815, Odoevsky was registered for civil service as a clerk in the Cabinet of His Majesty, and from December 31, 1818, he became a provincial secretary. In 1820, he left civil service and on October 1, 1821, he joined the military service in the Horse Life Guards Regiment, where he was recognized as a nobleman and on November 4, 1821, was promoted to junker. Later, he received the ranks of standard junker and cornette. During this period, he met his cousins Alexander Griboedov and Vladimir Odoevsky.

In early 1825, Odoevsky joined the Northern Society of Decembrists, aligning himself with its radical faction. He participated in the uprising on Senate Square on December 14, 1825, and then voluntarily reported to the Chief of Police of Petersburg, A. S. Shulgin. Odoevsky was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress, in the Alexeyevsky ravelin.

He was sentenced under the IV category and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor, but on August 22, 1826, the term was reduced to 8 years. On March 20, 1827, he was taken to the Chita prison, where he wrote a response to A. S. Pushkin's letter in Siberia. In September, he was transferred to the Petrovsky factory, and in 1832 he was sent to settle at the Telminsky state factory in the Irkutsk region. From there, on April 2, 1833, he wrote a letter to Nicholas I requesting clemency. From 1833, Odoevsky lived in the village of Yelani in the Irkutsk province, where he built a house for himself.

Thanks to his father's petition, supported by Prince I. F. Paskevich, on May 23, 1836, Odoevsky was transferred to Ishim in the Tobolsk province. On July 21, 1837, he was assigned as a private in the active army in the Caucasus, where he became close to M. Yu. Lermontov and met N. P. Ogaryov. Odoevsky was known as an intelligent, educated, and noble man; some even referred to him as a 'Christ-like' figure.

He died in 1839 from malaria during the construction of Fort Lazarev on the eastern shore of the Black Sea. Odoevsky's poems written before 1825 have almost not survived. Among his known works are the poem 'The Fiery Sounds of the Strings...', the poem 'Vasilko', and the poems 'Zosima', 'The Prophetess Old Woman', 'My Peri', 'The Marriage of Georgia with the Russian Kingdom', and others. His lyrics, with an increasing philosophical element, are close to the works of Lermontov. Odoevsky is known for the famous line: 'From a spark, a flame will ignite...'.