Johann Friedrich von Goethe:
The eternal hen-principle made it do it.
Emily Dickinson:
Because it could not stop for death.
Sappho:
Due to the loveliness of the hen on the other side, more fair than all of Hellas' fine armies.
Henry David Thoreau:
To live deliberately ... and suck all the marrow out of life.
Mark Twain:
The news of its crossing has been greatly exaggerated.
Ernest Hemingway:
To die. In the rain.
Orwell:
The pigs persuaded the chicken to cross the road, as part of their plot to take over the farm. They hoped the farmer would get struck by a car while chasing the chicken.