Online Lesson 9

1.The type of gun being describe is those cannons point out from ships out at sea used to defend the ship and its crew.
2. The "jackies" in these lines are probably soldiers or crew on the ship, and the reason why they are singing "war chanties" might be because they are preparing to go to war, and are singing "war chanties" together to boost their morale.
3. Sandburg probably meant that guns and shovels are equivalent to "brothers" because guns are used to kill people and shovels, on the other hand, are used to scoop earth to bury the dead people.
4. The significance of the title is probably that, in the poem, soldiers are asked to destroy things and rebuild them once again. Despite all the tedious work, they still obey.
5. The effect of the contrasting actions is probably to evoke a feeling of ridiculous in the reader. The persona's attitude toward soldiers and citizens in the poem is that the persona orders them to do tedious and meaningless work. They are ordered to destroy and rebuild the same thing, which is unnecessary. Thus the persona is not understanding towards the citizens and soldiers.

6. In my opinion, it is harder to build up a society rather than destroy it. An example is the recent earthquake in Japan. Over the past years and centuries, it took construction workers so long to build buildings and houses, and for citizens to buy furniture to put into their houses, to decorate their houses. But suddenly, an earthquake and tsunami came and destroyed all the buildings, teared buildings and houses apart, and to send cars flying. It is said that the reconstruction costs were put at $185b. The buildings and houses were built over so many years, but destroyed in a few minutes to an hour.http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_691361.html

7.In old wars people rode on horses and carried swords as they set off for war, which probably explains the "beat of shod feet". In new wars, the "hum of motors and the tread of rubber tires" represented the sound of the motors in tanks and the sound of their tyres as they move towards the battle ground. In the future, technology might invent silent vehicles which can hurl strong objects, which kill more people more efficiently compared to cannons and spears.
8. During the World War II in Singapore, Japan won the war as General Percival let down his guard and sort of "counted the chickens before they hatched". In future wars, the intellectually able would be the ones to win the war rather than those with strong troops.