In literature, the term “blood red” is often employed to evoke vivid, emotionally charged imagery, transforming everyday objects and settings into symbols of passion, violence, or foreboding. Authors describe scenes where nature itself seems to catch fire with this intense hue—for instance, when a setting sun dresses the landscape in a deep, ominous tone ([1], [2], [3])—or when manmade elements, such as the eerie glow of “blood red lamps” over a shop ([4]) or a veranda cloaked in creeper with memories of a haunted past ([5]), are painted in this striking color. At times, “blood red” enhances character portrayals, whether in the flush of fury or passion seeping into a face or garment ([6], [7]), reinforcing its power as a literary tool to signal both beauty and brutal intensity.
- The setting sun shone blood red over forest, field, and river.
— from The Scouts of the Valley by Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander) Altsheler
- Before her the sun was setting blood red in a sea of amber.
— from The Yellow Dove by George Gibbs
- The sun, dimmed and blood red in vapor, was setting behind the Jersey shore.
— from A Cry in the Wilderness by Mary E. (Mary Ella) Waller
- A band was engaged, and at night the shop was illuminated, and the word "ruin," in blood red lamps, appearing over the shop-door.
— from The Comic Almanack, Volume 2 (of 2)
An Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, Containing Merry Tales, Humerous Poetry, Quips, and Oddities by Gilbert Abbott À Beckett
- There was the veranda, blood red with it's creeper-clothing, and full of memories for him.
— from Cape of Storms: A Novel by Percival Pollard
- He had once, in the school days when he was blossoming into a man of fashion, experienced a similar sensation before a cravat of pigeon-blood red.
— from Stover at Yale by Owen Johnson
- Skiff Miller demanded, his brows lowering and an obstinate flush of blood reddening his forehead.
— from Love of Life, and Other Stories by Jack London