A Kiss is Still a Kiss

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1. Which of these books of the Bible begins with these words: "Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth, for thy breasts are better than wine, smelling sweet of the best ointments. Thy name is as oil poured out: therefore young maidens have loved thee."? The Song of Solomon Esther Psalms Ruth

2. A tender kiss between husband and wife is the focal point of this celebrated fresco by Giotto, one of several executed for the Capella degli Scrovegni in Padua. The Marriage of the Virgin The Meeting at the Golden Gate The Wedding at Cana The Flight Into Egypt

3. Romeo is arguably Shakespeare's most romantic tragic hero, so it is fitting that his last words are "Thus, with a kiss, I die." Which of these other Shakespearean lovers dies "...upon a kiss"? Antony Adonis Troilus Othello

4. Possibly the most famous kiss in folklore is the kiss that awakens the Sleeping Beauty in the Brothers Grimm fairy tale. The princess in this tale is named for a flower, which also plays a symbolic role in the story; which flower is it? Violet Amaryllis Lily Rose

5. The heroine of this epic poetic drama by Goethe is haunted to the point of obsession by the memory of her lover's kiss. In her chamber, sitting at her spinning wheel, she fantasizes about returning his kisses with equal ardor: “Ah! Might I clasp him And hold him so, And kiss his lips As fain would I Upon his kisses To swoon and die!” ("Ach dürft ich fassen Und halten ihn, Und küssen ihn, So wie ich wollt, An seinen Küssen Vergehen sollt!") Wilhelm Meister's Lehrjahre Faust Hermann und Dorothea Die Leiden des jungen Werther

6. Auguste Rodin's 1886 sculpture “Le Baiser” (“The Kiss”) is one of the classic depictions of erotic love. Along with “The Thinker”, it is one of the sculptor's most recognizable works. “Le Baiser” was originally part of a monumental sculpture by Rodin entitled “Port de L'Enfer” (“The Gates of Hell”), and is a depiction of these two famous adulterous lovers, whose story is related in Dante's “L'Inferno”. Paolo and Francesca Pelleas and Melisande Tristan and Isolde Lancelot and Guinevere

7. Gustav Klimt's painting "The Kiss" (1907-1908) is one of the most famous paintings of the Art Nouveau period. Apart from oil paint, Klimt also made liberal use of a costly substance in the creation of this painting, which was also widely used in Byzantine, medieval, and Renaissance paintings; what was it? Lapis lazuli Mother of pearl Gold leaf Diamond dust

8. This famous horror-mystery novel has been filmed several times, and was the basis for a highly successful Broadway musical. It features as its title character a hideously ugly creature, whose soul is twisted by the cruelty with which he has always been treated. His heart is ultimately softened when the novel's heroine, moved by pity for him, allows him to kiss her, something his own mother was unable to bring herself to do. "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" by Victor Hugo "The Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley "The Phantom of the Opera" by Gaston Leroux

9. This Russian-born artist's surrealistic 1915 painting “Birthday” is an artistic depiction of the well-worn phrase “head over heels in love”. It depicts a young man, transported by a birthday gift of flowers from his beloved, floating over her head and bending over backwards to plant a kiss on her lips. Apart from this painting,the artist is best-known for his fantastical paintings of life in the Jewish village in which he grew up, and for his murals at the Paris Opera and New York's Metropolitan Opera. Alexey Zubov Nathan Altman Wassiliy Kandinsky Marc Chagall

10. The ballet "La Baiser de la Fee" ("The Fairy's Kiss") premiered in 1928 at the Paris Opera and featured a score by the great Igor Stravinsky. The story concerns a young man who is kissed in infancy by an ice fairy; when he grows to manhood, she reappears and claims him as her own. At one point (scene three) Stravinsky makes use of the song "None But the Lonely Heart" by this 19th century Russian composer, also known for his ballet music, to whom Stravinsky had dedicated the score of "La Baiser"; who was the composer? Nikolai Rimski-Korsakoff Aleksander Borodin Pytor Illyich Tchiakovsky Mikhail Glinka