A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes

The lines below are scrambled. Put them in order and make notes as to why you arrange it in the way you do. For example, many of the lines have the pronoun "it". Those lines must come after the antecedent of "it". I can conclude that "it" refers to "a dream" in line 6, so I will put that first.

  1. like a raisin in the sun?

  2. Or does it explode?

  3. like a syrupy sweet?

  4. Does it dry up

  5. Does it stink like rotten meat?

  6. What happens to a dream deferred?

  7. like a heavy load.

  8. Or crust and sugar over--

  9. Maybe it just sags

  10. Or fester like a sore--

  11. And then run?