Answer:
The lines that shows that the speaker of the poem has a limited acquaintance with the people he is writing are:
"I have passed with a nod of the head
Or polite meaningless words,
Or have lingered awhile and said
Polite meaningless words,"
Explanation:
"Easter 1816" is a poem by William Butler Yeats, written sometime between May-September 1916, and first published in 1921. The poem is about the events of Easter Rising in Ireland. On 24th April, 1916, on the eve of Easter, Irish Republican launched the Rising against the rule of British.
In first stanza of his poem he introduces his reader that he is going to tell about those people with whom he was not very well acquainted with. He begins by telling how he met them and where he met them from lines 1-4. From lines 5-8, he tells that whenever they would pass by each other, he would just nod and "linger some polite meaningless words".
So, lines 5-8 of the poem "Easter 1816" shows the less acquaintance of the speaker with the people he is writing about.
