Just as, at least in the Inferno, some of Dante's characters seem to remained fixed on the politics of thirteenth century Florence, here the shades are, despite the elapse of subjective time, very much fixed on the concerns and in the attitudes of early twentieth century England.
Blake, perhaps, is part of the allusion of the distorted faces:
"And mark in every face I meet, Marks of weakness, marks of woe."
I suppose, since CSL was not a fan of T.S.Eliot's poetry, the lines from Animula:
"Issues from the hand of time the simple soul
Irresolute and selfish, misshapen, lame,
Unable to fare forward or retreat,
Fearing the warm reality, the offered good,"
are not relevant.