“in speaking of my mother you have touched a string to which my heart fully responds. to have known her is to be an object of great interest in my eyes. i myself never knew her—and never knew the affection of a father. both died (as you may remember) within a few weeks of each other. i have many occasional dealings with adversity—but the want of parental affection has been the heaviest of my trials.”

in this passage, the author quotes poe to define

a. a cause of his dark themes.
b. an effect of his dark themes.
c. the central idea of his dark themes.
d. the relationships in his dark themes.