No I think it is. Homer has been deified far in excess of the poems. Probably more people know who Homer is than can actually say what the Iliad and Odyssey are, the contents of those stories has become separate from the poems and Homer, and yet Homer remains an iconic figure. And we see the same thing happening with Shakespeare, the texts have changed, the icon has risen, and along the way we’ve completely lost sight of the fact that they’re originally entertainment, they’re supposed to be FUN. Not worshiped.
Chaucer could be taught in high schools, nothing wrong with teaching it translated. They’re some pretty fun stories. Or teach the kids the changes in the language, we teach them that for Shakespeare, so clearly it CAN be done, when we decide to teach kids not be dumb rather than teach on the assumption they are dumb.
The problem with pillars in teaching is it encourages ignorance. The skip ahead mentality jumps past important centuries trying to get to “the good stuff”.
The Greeks built up their culture from the two Homeric poems. Hence our own culture was built up from them. That’s fact and can’t be ignored in the interest of fairness to other writers. And I don’t make a distinction between ‘fun’ and ‘attentive study’. Chaucer was taught in my high school.
But Aaron Copland talked critically about ‘Masterpiece Syndrome’ - a mentality that only the very finest of the finest is worthy of our attention...hence pretty much only three composers from 1750-1810 get played (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven). The others from that era have become footnotes (C.P.E. Bach, Gluck, Clementi). Even Haydn has been relegated to also ran status because of how Mozart and Beethoven have been deified. He’s not played nearly as much as he should be.