To the degree that the word postmodern has been both overused and ill-defined, critics today have a difficult time applying the term in good conscience, just as they also harbor a need to discuss art and literature in a way that makes some reference to the term almost unavoidable. Comparisons between writers, which are not merely designed to justify the more recent author in relation to the more canonical, can be valuable to the degree that they explore surprising points of contact between different figures. From this standpoint, John Ashbery’s early poetry becomes more interesting when it is brought into contact with the world of Proust’s novels, which have been read as in some sense postmodern. The basis for the comparison, however, presupposes a broadly linguistic reading of Proust that provides new settings for reading his fiction and does not always support postmodern readings. The issue of how John Ashbery’s poetry expresses a certain kinship with the postmodern is complicated in view of how Proust is read. Hence, while Proust’s novels can be read in different ways, Ashbery’s poetry can also be read—again, like Proust’s novels—as providing insights that are not always limited to postmodern readings.