ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author explores how she used poetry as a qualitative method within a project researching the impact and extent of religion on the social and personal identities of Welsh women. She describes how a reflection on the work of one writer (Menna Elfyn) can be an effective method in gaining an in-depth perspective on the lives of women, and is particularly relevant within practical and feminist theological research, given the key role that literature has played within feminist theology. The author describes the themes that arose within Elfyn's work and how they help to interpret the nature of female engagement with faith in Wales, and what this project can offer feminist theology as a discipline. She analyses the research conversations through identifying the themes that emerged using an approach informed by discourse analysis, and the concept of 'figured worlds' in particular the stereotypes, archetypes, metaphors, social norms, idealized behaviours and values held in common by the participants.
