"All the world's a stage": Mixing up Legit Criticism and Social Sharing

"Within 22 hours I've managed to lose a hat, an iPad, and a pair of glasses. So far I've got the . iPad back. Still hoping for the rest v."  This is a tweet, but it isn't mine.

Stanley Wells, Shakespearean scholar
Creative Commons: Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Stanley Wells, who did, is the "Honorary President of Shakespeare Birthplace Trust." Dr. Burton mentioned that he unexpectedly discovered Wells had a twitter account in Dr. Burton's post on using twitter.  I thought this would be a good place to start with using social media, so I created a twitter account (atRachelizo) and decided to follow Stanley Wells.  I'm hopeful that as I can refine my questions about romance and fate playing a role in romance, I'll be able to contact him and ask him about more about the play.

But that was not the last time I saw Stanley Wells today (which I'll explain after a brief interlude about romance).  My first post on tragedy vs. romance lacked an explanation of interesting elements of romances.  I would like to be more aware of and well-versed in romance lingo when I talk to people, so I looked through the Shakespeare subject guide on the library website.  I found that:

Creative Commons: Liamfm

• The Winter's Tale can also be classified as a "tragicomedy," which is partly why many people don't take it seriously.  The mixture of genres is unsettling.  
• "[m]any of Shakespeare's plays use motifs common in romance literature, such as separation, wanderings, reunion, reconciliation, and forgiveness."
• the play is based on the romance Pandosto by Robert Greene, but Shakespeare changes the names of the characters, the story's tragic ending, and the names of places.  
• it is "grounded on impossibilities, or at least, so meanly written, that the comedy neither caused your mirth, nor the serious part your concernment." -Dryden, a critic

I can go in a lot of directions with this information.  I feel like Dryden's comment is especially useful because he comes right out and says the play is "grounded on impossibilities," which is something I want to argue against.  Today, I posted on my ward (the congregation of the church I attend as a Latter-day Saint or mormon) facebook page the same question about life being a tragedy or a romance and linked to our class blog.  With some context to the question, hopefully I can get some feedback from my ward members.  I'd like to know whether or not the topic is interesting to a larger audience and how life is a tragedy or romance.

Stanley Wells' name popped up again in my research because he edited The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare and wrote A Dictionary of Shakespeare, the Oxford Reference.  It was pretty cool to know I'm following him on twitter at the same time as I read his academic work in a legitimate Shakespearean reference work.  His work applies both to the social learning aspect of the paper, as well as the requirement for critical research.