What is the purpose of the stanza?
example: The purpose of this stanza is to develop a general time and place - setting - for 'The Raven'. In this stanza, the month is identified as a cold one and an unsavory one. Additionally, a fire is dying as a person seeks to grieve through reading a book. He is grieving over the loss of his love, Lenore. At this point, because it's so early in the narrative poem, no real tension - stress - has been developed, but we can begin to wonder over how the character will cope with the loss of his love. After all, he does refer to her as a "rare and radiant" maiden.
Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
“Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said, “art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore—
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!”
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”