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,}

1. {Being certain that they and I
   

But lived where motley is worn:}

1. {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.}