It funny... I find a radical division between programmers on this one. I was always a Perl-hater. I got into Unix/Linux in the 90s when Perl was big and I never learned it because I took one look at the syntax and some Perl code and my brain instantly recoiled in abject horror. I know lots of other devs who loved it. Still not sure what the division is, though I think it might be also related to the fact that I generally hate complexity and my reaction to it is "how can we get rid of this?"
I like to call it an acquired taste. First you hate it, then you fight it, then you get surprised, finally both you and Perl win.
Perl did not and has not failed. Not even remotely.