2. Internal
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a. Metre
i. We can expect the basic metre to be uniform, therefore to help in sorting out verses from different poems where a poet has composed in more than one metre (e.g. hrynhenda and dróttkvætt).
ii. More subtle metrical features, e.g. a predominance of certain metrical types, would need to be used with caution as evidence for reconstruction.
iii. Particular sequences of verses might be linked by concatenation of alliterating or rhyming sounds.
b. Erfidrápa or not? Verbs in present or past tenses, and the presence or absence of apostrophes can help distinguish poems in praise of a living ruler from an erfidrápa, but the two are otherwise difficult to distinguish, and tenses, and 2nd and 3rd person verbs, can alternate within same poem (cf., e.g., Fidjestøl 1982, 193-8).
c. Personal names: strong praise of N., or a prayer for N., are likely, though not certain, to come from a poem about him.
d. Other factual points (place-names, names of ships or of enemies) can be associated with individual heroes, hence with poems about them, on the evidence of verses by other skalds or from independent sources. E.g. Magnús góði’s attack on the Wends at Jóm is commemorated by more than one skald, and recorded by Adam of Bremen (ed. Schmeidler 1917, 137).
e. Diction: a poet might favour particular expressions for particular dedicatees, e.g. Arnórr jarlaskáld seems to use skjǫldungr especially for Magnús góði. Particular diction or imagery might by sustained through more than one verse. This kind of evidence should, however, be used with extreme caution.
f. Stylistic features: most other stylistic features will be unsafe as grounds for assuming that verses are from same poem.