Question

which set of lines in this excerpt from \easter, 1916\ by w. b. yeats suggests 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.

Explanation:

These lines describe only superficial, formal interactions (nods, empty polite words) between the speaker and the people, plus the speaker's detached, mocking thoughts about them afterward, which shows their limited, non-intimate acquaintance.

Answer:

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,