This article explores the role of literature education regarding human dignity and essence in an era of unprecedented infectious diseases in a digital society centered on artificial intelligence. Focusing on the nature of literature that explores the nature of humanity as a humanities subject, I reinterpreted Kim So-wol’s three poems, which were mainly published in “Literature” textbooks and are related to folk tales dealing with long-standing human problems. In the case of 〈SanYuHwa〉, Kim So-wol’s 〈SanYuHwa〉 was reinterpreted based on the history of literary expropriation from the 17th to the 20th centuries, which was re-created by accepting the folk song 〈SanYuHwa〉 sung by Hyang-rang in the Hyang-rang folk tale. In the four stanzas, it was noted that the third stanza serves as a precursor to the structure of four-line hansi (Chinese classical poetry, Jeol-gu) and brings important changes to the image. Furthermore, the existence of this small bird is the same as the role of a girl in the Hyangrang folk tale, and through this, 〈SanYuHwa〉 is interpreted as a poem that tells us that we remember and pass their stories on to the dead. In the case of 〈ChoHon〉, it is pointed out that the acceptance of Becoming a Stone folk tale plays an important role in acquiring the universality of this poem, and the human imagination and willingness to overcome tragedy by becoming a stone in front of the pain of parting and the solitude of the dead are examined. Through this, it is deemed that it is a poem showing the nature of human minds and thoughts, and that the attributes of literature in other areas of emotion and reason become the driving force of human civilization. In the case of 〈JeopDongSae〉, we saw that it was our job and the role of literature to remember and convey the dead in sorrow without merely passing through the unjust death. Moreover, the need to approach the sadness in the poem from the perspective of greater universality than from the perspective of limiting it to the unique Han (恨) of Korean people, and from the perspective of understanding human society as a present story was suggested. Through this, the tradition of Kim So-wol’s poems, which are habitually told, have a literary history meaning based on the closeness of form and content by organically explaining how folk tales play an important role regarding content, rather than the acceptance of simple form or similarity between narratives. Additionally, we could learn how to live today without fear as small, young, and unnamed ordinary persons in the face of war and plague, unfair events and accidents, and in an artificial intelligence and machine-centered society.