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CARNAUN NATIONAL SCHOOL 

'We had our towers too'.
Mr Yeats, you may be living in Túr Ballylee but Athenry can boast of towers and castles as well. We are just as good as you so don’t be looking down on us.

'A large stone soldiery at bridge and gateway  
We have Athenry Castle and the Arch (The North Gate).

'They were the whole town once'.
Athenry was a walled Norman town and the life of town centred around the "towers" of the of  the  castle walls six gatewawith six towers and ys, priory, parish church and market place.

And I could have nodded to him from the top tendril of ivy or a jackdaw's nest.
I could have looked down on him from
A. my bedroom window - The Ivy Hotel.
B. From the ivy covered wall of the " towers " where children played and searched for nests
(Yeats often spent time in Athenry between trains and may have walked around the town to pass the time.)

'But I'd never heard of him the famous poet who lived as the crow flies fifteen miles away'.
Fallon was young and lived a very different life to Yeats. He would not have learned Yeats ' poetry in school. Yeats lived in Túr Ballylee. Lady Gregory lived in Coole Park and Edward Martin lived in Tulira Castle. They were part of the 'Gaelic Revival' and were all involved in the foundation of the Abbey Theatre.
                             This is our classes' interpretation of the poem.

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SCOIL NÁISIÚNTA CARNÁIN
BAILE ÁTHA 'N RÍ