Question

Which lines in this excerpt from "Easter, 1816" by W. B. Yeats suggest that the speaker had only a limited acquaintance with the people he is writing about?

I have met them at close of day
Coming with vivid faces
From counter or desk among grey
Eighteenth-century houses.
I have passed with a nod of the head
Or polite meaningless words,
Or have lingered awhile and said
Polite meaningless words,
And thought before I had done
Of a mocking tale or a gibe
To please a companion
Around the fire at the club,
Being certain that they and I
But lived where motley is worn:
All changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.
. . .
Hearts with one purpose alone
Through summer and winter seem
Enchanted to a stone
To trouble the living stream.

1. {I have passed with a nod of the head
Or polite meaningless words,
Or have lingered awhile and said
Polite meaningless words,}

2. {Being certain that they and I
But lived where motley is worn:}

3. {All changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.}

4.{Hearts with one purpose alone
Through summer and winter seem
Enchanted to a stone
To trouble the living stream.}

Answer 1

I have passed with a nod of the head

Or polite meaningless words,

Or have lingered awhile and said

Polite meaningless words,

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

The lines in this excerpt from "Easter, 1816" by W. B. Yeats that suggest that the speaker had only a limited acquaintance with the people he is writing about are the following:
1. {I have passed with a nod of the head
Or polite meaningless words,
Or have lingered awhile and said
Polite meaningless words,}

If he knew them better, he would greet them in another way. You don't greet your friends by just nodding your head at them, you at least shake their hand and talk to them. Because the narrator doesn't do that, we can see that he doesn't know them well.