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The "Paradise Lost" refernce is not accurate. The section reads:

What when we fled amain, pursued and struck With Heaven's afflicting thunder, and besought The Deep to shelter us? This Hell then seemed A refuge from those wounds. Or when we lay Chained on the burning lake? That sure was worse. What if the breath that kindled those grim fires, Awaked, should blow them into sevenfold rage, And plunge us in the flames; or from above Should intermitted vengeance arm again His red right hand to plague us?

The red right hand belongs to god in this quote. Kidigus 05:48, 17 October 2007 (UTC)Reply

I believe the "Red Right Hand" is "God's Red Right Hand" and is referring to his son (Christ). I will try to find a quote to support this if no one else does before me. --DaBOB (talk) 04:30, 29 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

I've read this claim (that the title comes from Milton) frequently, but I've never seen it attributed or sourced; I think I first saw it on a Nick Cave mailing list, and my recollection was that it was put forward and accepted more or less on the basis that Cave was likely to have read Milton.

However, the title turns up elsewhere, and with at least much plausibility as a possible source; it appears in common translations of Horace's Ode to Augustus Caesar, which probably got it a fair bit of exposure and may even have been Milton's source.

Personally, I think it much more likely that it comes from the poem "Man of The Red Right Hand" from the book "Song's of Empire" by Robert Buchanan (1841 - 1901), which has substantial structural similarities to the Nick Cave song; it's 8 rather dark verses of identical structure, one such being:

Then up he rose from his knee and brandish'd the crimson knife, Saying: 'I thank thee, God, for making me Lord of Life! The beasts and the birds are mine, and the flesh and blood of the same, Baptised in the blood of these, I gladden and praise thy name! Laden with spoils of life thy servant shall smiling stand!' And out on the Deep be hied, this Man with the Red Right Hand.

You can see the full poem at http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/buchanan/24.html or check out the Ode to Augustus at http://www.authorama.com/works-of-horace-1.html

Without a source, singling out John Milton seems a bit of a stretch. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.122.249.19 (talk) 09:36, 16 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

True, no source is put down but one can hardly call it a stretch. No more so than Horace (Milton's source. Milton translating "rubente dextera" as "red right hand." And that's fairly reasonable. Gingermint (talk) 07:49, 22 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

I'm also surprised that nobody's considered the pulp murder mystery "The Red Right Hand" as another possible link. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.69.133.54 (talk) 08:50, 26 July 2013 (UTC)Reply