You can say the same thing about older obscure writers like Edmund Spenser.
Yes, but before English departments in universities became politicized whorehouses, when English was still rigorously taught, reading those writers from centuries ago was beneficial in teaching you the development of the language over centuries along with the history that paralleled the development of the language. I will say that I was a much better speller in the language we actually use before I had the pleasure of taking a very good Chaucer course. Once I really go into middle English, I want as gude at spelling as I used to been. And before that I thot that soot in showers was something I had to wash off with difficulty when, a young man I had a job cleaning out oil burners.