20 points branliest

for the most wild, yet most homely narrative which i am about to pen, i neither expect nor solicit belief. mad indeed would i be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. yet, mad am i not—and very surely do i not dream.

why is the passage an example of verbal irony?

the narrator is truthful
the narrator does not expect to believed
the narrator does not write his story
the narrator really is mad

The narrator does not expect to believed.

Explanation:

Edgar Allen Poe's The Black Cat tells the unnamed protagonist's life which led up to his imprisonment. The man narrated how he ended up in the situation he is in now.

The given lines are the starting/ opening lines of the short story. In it, the speaker/ protagonist details how he is writing or narrating about his situation. But he admits he did not expect the readers to actually believe his tale, though that was the main reason he had written the whole story. So, the verbal irony is his written record while at the same time stating he did not expect us to believe what he's saying.

taking into account that a theme is the central topic a text treats and can be developed through a story, play, poem etc. the following are themes that can be further developed:  

my best friend jeffrey has many unusual interests. (the story could be about each of the unususal interests)

once a man gives his soul over to evil, he can never go back. (this could be a saying or a proverb)

the three sheepdogs lay around the yard all day. (it could be developed detailing how each of these sheepdogs lay around)

a priest's collar has an unusual effect upon people. (it could be developed detailing the different effect upon people)

innocence is a powerful force in a world full of corruption. (it could be developed detailing how is a world full of corruption)

king lear is a play shakespeare wrote later. (it is just a sentence and doesnt give any idea or topic to be discussed in details.

evil often wears the disguise of innocence. (this could be a saying or a proverb)