Soyinka begins " Civilian And Soldier" with a confused and questioning tone from the civilian to a more accepting, understanding and empathizing tone as the civilian begins to understand the soldier's dilemma.The poem starts off with a confused tone because the civilian is trying to understand why his apparition has risen and why the soldier killed him in the first place.Then the poem shifts to understanding , accepting and empathizing because the civilian learns that in war soldiers are trained to kill anyone that deemed questionable and how they are taught never to leave a person behind alive.The civilian starts to sympathize with the soldier inner conflict.Soyinka is exposing through this poem how innocent civilians are killed by soldiers without a reasonable cause during war; while also sympathizes with the soldier's inner conflict of knowing that they have to kill but not why or what it accomplishes.Soyinka is shedding light on how pointless war is when the cause is unknown and exposing the human condition of completing actions without much thought as long as it comes from a higher power.