This dissertation begins with Agamben s claim in the introduction of Stanzas: the western word is fractured, split between inspired-ecstatic [poetry] and rational-conscious [philosophy] poles, neither ever succeeding in wholly reducing the other. From this diagnosis, which resumes the theme of the ancient quarrel, some of the ways in which the relation between philosophy and poetry appear in Agamben s work are delineated (in some of his writings such as Stanzas, Language and Death, the preface to Infancy and History, Categorie Italiane, Idea of Prose and the chapter about the subject in The Remnants of Auschwitz). Themes like sound and sense, desubjectivation, the ineffability of the negative foundation of language and body and language are discussed, always privileging the dialogue Agamben establishes with literature and bringing poets to the debate.