The Mountain and the Squirrel by Ralph Waldo Emerson (Poetry)

The mountain and the squirrel
Had a quarrel,
And the former called the latter
"Little prig."
Bun replied,
"You are doubtless very big;
But all sorts of things and weather
Must be taken in together
To make up a year
And a sphere.
And I think it no disgrace
To occupy my place.
If I'm not so large as you,
You are not so small as I,
And not half so spry:
I'll not deny you make
A very pretty squirrel track.
Talents differ; all is well and wisely put;
If I cannot carry forests on my back,
Neither can you crack a nut."

     This poem is a the narrative between a squirrel and the mountain.  In the poem they compare themselves and why one might be better than the other / why one is not as good as the other.  This poem has a lot of rhyme and is a lot of fun to read.  The language and vocabulary in this poem is a little more complicated and so I think this would be a great poem for the upper elementary grades.  I think maybe 5th or 6th grade could have a lot of fun working with this poem.  A possible activity or assessment to use with this poem would be to pair students off into partners.  Each one of the partners would have to take the role of an animal, creature, object, place, etc. and would have to create their own dialogue between the two partners.  Students would have to create their own poem with this dialogue and share it with the class.
Genre: Perspective 
Subject: Argument