Because you are comparing the best and most well known authors of the period to the writings of a crazy underground offshoot of a minority religion. Masters of the craft vs that guy that believes in lizard people.

If you want a fascinating case study, look at what happened with the "book of mormon". It's a hot mess of gobbledygook and plagiarized stories yet to mormons it's the best book ever written.

Meanwhile, you had literary giants like Charles Dickens and Victor Hugo writing time honored classics in the same time period which are still very readable and accessible today.