Answer: '<em>Once upon a midnight dreary'</em> and '<em>Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December' </em>help establish the setting.
Explanation:
The setting is a literary element that provides us with the information about the time and/or place in which a particular story happens.
In Edgar Allan Poe's <em>The Raven,</em> the setting is explained in the first line of the poem, where the narrator tells us that the story takes place at night (around midnight). Moreover, the word <em>'dreary'</em> indicates that the atmosphere is depressing.
In the following line: <em>'Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December', </em>the narrator provides more information by telling us that the event that he is about to describe took place in December.
