The use of ראה to structure the Observation Panels

As mentioned in the previous post on this subject, the body of Ecclesiastes can be seen to comprise of four pairs of alternating panels, with the A panels containing Qoheleth's observations, while the B panels contain his collected wisdom.

First-Person Verbs
What stands out in the reading of Ecclesiastes is the proliferation of first-person verbs. The narrative is not the normal type of Hebrew narrative, describing the goings-on of a third person, but are written in the first-person. The first section (1.12-2.26) contains a whopping 42:38 first-:third-person verbs, which gives a ratio of 1.11. Compare this with Ecclesiastes as a whole (which is the highest of all the books with 0.26), or with the canonical wisdom books (0.21), the whole Hebrew Bible (0.18) or, right at the bottom, Ben Sira (0.09).
The point here is that Ecclesiastes is unique in having the narrative being told from a first-person point of view.

You can see there are spikes, with large concentrations of first-person verbs in various sections, while there is a (there are a?) paucity in other places, where the third-person takes over. Add to this that in the observation panels there are other verbs which are virtual first-person verbs, namely where Qohelet speaks to his heart.
Of course, it is not enough to simply point this out; the question is what delineates these first-person observation sections from the wisdom which surrounds them?

Occurrences of ראה 
Looking at just the first-person occurrences of ראה, it becomes evident that there is a regularity to where it is used, but also a rhetorical use of the verb. It begins units, and often ends them, such that four panels reveal themselves:

Observation Panel 1: 1.12-2.26 (four units which begin with first-person use of ראה : qatal 3x, yiqtol 1x)
Observation Panel 2: 3.10-4.15 (four units, four of which begin with a first-person use of ראה, three of which also conclude with first-person use of ראה : qatal 5x, yiqtol 2x)
Observation Panel 3: 5.12-6.12 (three units, each of which begin with the first-person qatal use of ראה)
Observation Panel 4: 7.15-9.13 (five units, each of which either begin or end with a first-person use of ראה, and begin or end with another use of ראה : qatal 5x, imperative 2x, infinitive 3x)

What we see here is the first and third panels begin with ראיתי or אראה, while the second and third are bookended with a use of ראה. For the astute reader you will have noticed there are two further uses of ראיתי, namely in 10.5,7. We maintain this is an 'observation interlude', which forms some symmetry with the 'wisdom interlude' found in the second panel, at 4.4-5.

Internal Structure of the Observation Panels
What remains to be said is that the four panels each contain discrete units, each of which are either begun by, or both begun and concluded by, an observation using the verb 'to see'. Chiasm-crazy as I am, it's hard for me not to see the chiasms present in the individual units, where an observation is made, discussed and conclusions then made. Within each panel the units are linked by a theme, which is most obvious in the first panel (1.12-2.26), but is evident in the other three panels also.

In the next post I want to talk a bit about the Wisdom Panels which form the matching pairs to the Observation Panels. Stay tuned!