http://www.mp3lyrics.org/f/florence-the-machine/bird-song/ Lyrics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1Q_A6wmlDM Video with lyrics
Both the story and the song have stark, vivid metaphors centering around the idea of guilt. The idea of guilt eating away at you and inevitably leading you to confession. Both stories have some kind of wrong doing that sparks a manifestation of guilt. In The Tell Tale Heart, it was the heart beat that started when the narrator was suspected he was caught by the old man he is trying to kill. In The Bird Song, it is the bird itself which witnesses the act and starts to sing. (Well I didn't tell anyone, but a bird flew by/Saw what I'd done and set up a nest outside/And he sang about what I'd become.)
Eventually, in both instances, the main characters feel driven to kill this source of guilt. In The Tell Tale Heart killing the old man stopped the heartbeat. In The Bird Song, the killing of the bird stopped its song. In both stories it is the satisfaction following the act which temporarily silences the guilt. The satisfaction is explicit in The Tell Tale Heart with the narrator being extremely elated after he kills the old man. In The Bird Song, the satisfaction is evident in the tone of the lyrics describing the act, contrasted by the frustration felt in the lyrics preceding. (I picked up the bird and above the din I said/That's the last time you'll ever sing/Held him down, broke his neck/Taught him a lesson he wouldn't forget.)
Finally, in both instances the guilt eventually comes back, and leads to confession. In The Tell Tale Heart the narrator starts to hear the heart beat again, and eventually it bothers him so much he confesses to make it stop. In The Bird Song, the main character finds herself singing the very song she meant to silence. In both instances the arrival is subtle and insiduous. At first in The Tell Tale Heart the narrator doesn't even recognize the heart beat at first, and in The Bird Song the returning song starts by coming through dreams.
Both these works are laden with metaphor, and neither of the narrator's explicitly states or feels guilty. Instead manifestations, whether they be physical (a bird) or heard (the heartbeat) represent guilt. They represent the idea of guilt coming back to haunt someone, and both end in confession. Both stories are morbid, and I found them interesting to analyze.
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