This is not currently part of the peer-reviewed material of the project. Do not cite as a research publication.
Light may be thrown on a particular point of difficulty by:
1. Its immediate poetic context (i.e. the rest of the helmingr or stanza), by adjacent verses in the extended poem to which it belongs (where applicable), or by other verses attributed to same poet.
2. The prose context. This may well reveal the prose writer’s understanding of the verse or details within it. Like the prose writer’s rendering of the verse text, it may or may not be true to the poet’s original intentions.
3. Comparative evidence from other skaldic poetry, from eddic poetry or Old Norse-Icelandic prose, from cognate languages and literatures.