After reading the quote, discuss with your peers your reflections, questions, statements about your reaction to the quote. Encourage others to respond to your thinking.
One of the most admirable things about history is, that almost as a rule we get as much information out of what it does not say as we get out of what it does say. And so, one may truly and axiomatically (fundamentaly) aver this, to-wit: that history consists of two equal parts; one of these halves is statements of fact, the other half is inference, drawn from the facts. To the experienced student of history there are no difficulties about this; to him the half which is unwritten is as clearly and surely visible, by the help of scientific inference, as if it flashed and flamed in letters of fire before his eyes. When the practised eye of the simple peasant sees t2he half of a frog projecting above the water, he unerringly infers the half of the frog which he does not see. To the expert student in our great science, history is a frog; half of it is submerged, but he knows it is there, and he knows the shape of it. -(The Secret History of Eddypus)
9 comments:
This quote was difficult for me to understand at first, I had to read it over a few times. But I find it interesting that it says "one of these halves is statements of fact, the other half is inference". I always believed that history was all about facts, never what is inferred. I also liked the illustration of the frog. It very well applies to what history is.
I think this quote is very meaningful and I like how the frog compares to history. The history of our lives that has already happened and can be seen is represented by the top half of the frog. The lower half of the frog represents the future. And although we cannot see it visibly yet, we can predict what will appear based on what we know about history.
At first when I read this it was confusing, but then after it had been explained a little more, I understood it better. The author is stating that some people see just the facts that are history; these people are inexperienced history students and they have trouble drawing inferences, more so than the experienced ones. The experienced person can see and infer all the details throughout history.
The frog is being used as an example. The half above the water represents what we already know about history, and the other half below the water represents what's still to come.
I believe that this quote is simply stating that what is fact in history text books is only half of the history. The other half is the underlying causes and conclusions that depend on the reader for discovery. It's similar to reading between the lines.
A frog is a rather interesting comparison; I would use an iceberg instead. To me, a frog is too regular of an example; there is one shape, always present, and one conclusion--that there is a lower half.
On the other hand, an iceberg is unpredictable, like people, and likewise, history. When analyzed, history can yield many different explanations, some mysterious and questionable. An iceberg is the same way. You know there is much more underwater, but the shape and size is unknown. It may appear relatively small, but as the Titanic tragically demonstrated, this assumption leads to devastating consequences. Also shown by this example, what an observer may view as small and unimportant may be very important to those affected by it.
Only half of history is known. The rest is mysterious. Much is unknown. Much is still to be discovered.
After reading the quote i was confused, so i read it again. After reading it a second time i thought to mself,wow, history is a frog; half of it is submerged, but i know it is there, and i know the shape of it. i was surprised. Up until this point i viewed history as a bunch of historic events,but now it is much more to me than that, it's exciting, amazing, and in a weird way misleading. How do you view history?
I love this quote in the way it begins and grows upon itself, building on a basic idea into more factual evidence, then into metaphors. The phrase, "...that almost as a rule, we get as much information out of what it does say as we get out of what it does not say," I think, is the basic idea of the quote, which is very true when it comes to us studying history. I enjoyed Colleen's summary that an experienced student can see and infer the details in history.
This quote was difficult. Little confusing, but history is the past, the present and the future. History needs to be the facts, the truth to learn what really happened. History repeats itself like we are seeing right now.
Jordan Zuniga
This poem was a little confusing at first, after I read it agian I found it very meaningful and true. I liked the part that says,"history is a frog; half of it is submerged, but he knows it is there, and he knows the shape of it." I agree with dmkddfun that the top half of the frog is history that has already happened and the lower half is the futuer history.
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