As you say, English is a dumbed-down language which is exactly why it has become the language of science and not any of the inflected languages such as German (

As you say, English is a dumbed-down language which is exactly why it has become the language of science and not any of the inflected languages such as German (which used to be, certainly the language of chemistry), Italian or Spanish etc., In English, prepositions and auxiliary verbs make explicit the ideas in a statement. This is not an especial advantage in literary works but in terms of precise communication it's a winner. For a detailed discussion I recommend 'The language of science from the fall of Latin to the rise of English - Scientific Babel' by Michael D. Gordin. As for very great literature, the English have Shakespeare (sadly unread by you) but you have Dante (sadly unread by me). I mean in the original!