The idea of using a prologue in your sequel to a series of fiction books with long established lore that you are publishing years later isn't a bad one. It's a great way to recap the story for old readers and make the backstory accessible to new readers without having one or more chapters that waxes poetic about all the stuff that happened before.
This segment does a decent job of recapping, but it recaps in much too general a way. This isn't in the Inheritance cycle. This is specifically a "World of Eragon" book about Murtagh. I submit that the prologue/argument should be told in-character by Murtagh to establish how Murtagh's perspective of the war differs from Eragon's and prime the audience for this being a different kind of Alagaesia story. You could do a bunch of fun things with that concept but it would help establish that while this is a story set in Alagaesia it is NOT part of the Cycle.
Now on to the poem.
To hold the center amid a storm, To cleave or cling or seize the standard? ‘Tis a question troubles even The broadest mind. A stand of aspen Grows as tall and strong as the lonely Oak. Honor demands, duty compels, And love cajoles, but the self insists.
—Quandaries 14-20 Atten the Red
The quality of poetry varies wildly. I'm not going to quibble with the syllable number or stresses as it's a valid poetic technique to change up your rhyme scheme during the poem for various effects (Although the fact I can't discern why one line is 7 syllables instead of 9 isn't a great sign). My issue is that it's too difficult to discern the point of this poem. First we start talking about staying the course even though it's hard, and then it just moves on to comparing trees and virtues.
Simile and metaphor are time honored techniques, but you need to actually compare these things. This poem doesn't do that. "Lonely oak" might be an acceptable comparison for "holding the center" in a storm, but that's ruined by the out of context point about aspen.
no subject
This segment does a decent job of recapping, but it recaps in much too general a way. This isn't in the Inheritance cycle. This is specifically a "World of Eragon" book about Murtagh. I submit that the prologue/argument should be told in-character by Murtagh to establish how Murtagh's perspective of the war differs from Eragon's and prime the audience for this being a different kind of Alagaesia story. You could do a bunch of fun things with that concept but it would help establish that while this is a story set in Alagaesia it is NOT part of the Cycle.
Now on to the poem.
The quality of poetry varies wildly. I'm not going to quibble with the syllable number or stresses as it's a valid poetic technique to change up your rhyme scheme during the poem for various effects (Although the fact I can't discern why one line is 7 syllables instead of 9 isn't a great sign). My issue is that it's too difficult to discern the point of this poem. First we start talking about staying the course even though it's hard, and then it just moves on to comparing trees and virtues.
Simile and metaphor are time honored techniques, but you need to actually compare these things. This poem doesn't do that. "Lonely oak" might be an acceptable comparison for "holding the center" in a storm, but that's ruined by the out of context point about aspen.