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Isadora Duncans masterly writings on the dance reveal the depth of her determination to create a lyric form of the art which was free of characterization, storytelling, and the theatrical exhibition of skills. She wished to discard the traditional methods and established vocabularies of such dance forms as ballet and to explore the internal sources of human expressiveness. She shunned bodily ornamentation and strove to use only the natural movements of her body, undistorted by acrobatic exaggeration and stimulated only by internal compulsion. In her recitals Duncan danced to the music of Beethoven, Wagner, and Gluck, among others, but, contrary to popular belief, she made no attempt to visualize or to interpret the music; rather, she simply relied on it to provide the inspiration for expressing inner feelings through movement. She did not regard this use of music as ideal, however, believing that she would someday dispense with music entirely. That day never came. 17. The author is primarily concerned with Duncans masterful lyricism as expressed in her writings on the dance concerted efforts to subdue the natural movements of the dance belated recognition that she could not actually fulfill all of her ideals for the dance basic standards for the dance form that she wished to create and perform continuous responsiveness to a popular misconception about the nature of her new art form | 
