The theme of love is prevalent in many poems. A universal feeling, love is inevitably present in the works of quite a few poets, even those whose subject matter does not seem to include this theme. In Roethke's "The Apparition" the pervasive theme of love will be discussed. Theodore Roethke's love poem "The Apparition" is an entirely different matter. There could be no wrong feeling in this work. Roethke's poems were generally sincere and direct. "The Apparition" is no exception. It tells of love and lost love all in one fell swoop, and there is no mistaking the passion Roethke intended in this poem. The following lines illustrate this point well: “…Who took my heart, whole, / With a nod of the eye, / And with it, my soul, / And pleased to die.” Anyone can say that these are the words of a soul in love. In the next stanza, however, the writer is already heartbroken: "I turn and turn, / My breath is but a sigh. / Dare I cry? Dare I cry? / He passes. He passes." The writer apparently believed in falling in and out of love quite quickly. The first two stanzas of the poem show a person falling in love at the mere sight of someone passing by. The last stanza finds that same person on the verge of being traumatized simply because the walker has moved on, presumably to bigger and better things than the writer. This poem illustrates the sincerity and frankness with which Roethke crafted his works. Its contents cannot be confused with any emotion other than love and/or infatuation. Indeed, the poem's message is clear: love may come quickly, and the possibility of loving may vanish before it is even realized. Roethke, in his evidently unique style, has sufficiently conveyed to readers his interpretation of love and falling in love.