What is "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot about?

This can certainly be a challenging poem to understand at
first reading. However, key to understanding this poem is recognising that Alfred
Prufrock is a man who is considering asking a question. This question haunts him, but he
cannot force himself to utter the words needed to ask it. We can infer that this
question is a proposal of marriage to a woman that he is on his way to meet while
walking through the city. He is a man who is preoccupied and concerned about his
personal appearance. He feels confident that he is well dressed, but expresses concern
about the thinness of his arms and legs and his bald
patch:

Time
to turn back and descent the stair,

With a bald spot in the
middle of my hair--

(They will say: "How his hair is
growing thin!")

My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly
to the chin,

My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a
simple pin--

(They will say: "But how his arms and legs are
thin!")

He is thus a
characted who is dogged profoundly by self-doubt and a lack of self-confidence. He
intensely desires to have the courage necessary to assert himself and is a character
that longs for love, yet he is also constantly in fear of others making fun of him or
being misunderstood. This fact makes real connection with others impossible. In the end
he is forced to concede that his natural timidity and lack of confidence, combined with
his fear of failure will prevent him from achieving his goals and gaining a meaningful
relationship.