Some translations set poetry farther to the right than the rest of the text to show that it is poetry. The ULB does this with the poetry in 1:2-11 and 15.
The tone of this chapter is sad, or depressing. The author believes that everything in life is pointless. The metaphors in this chapter all describe the idea that nothing ever changes. This is also known as "fatalism." (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-explicit]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metaphor]])