Reading Sonnets

So we have been assigned to write some sonnets of our own...yikes.  I am not a terribly creative writer so this assignment scares me a little.  I believe I have the motivation to write a couple love sonnets (I'm planning one about love and one about love lost).  However, I don't know yet how to put these emotions into words with such a specific format.  Usually, if I write emotionally, I let the words flow.  Binding them into a rigid outline screws with my emotional vomit.  Considering that analogy, maybe I NEED a format so as not to disgust or overwhelm any reader other than myself.  In order to tackle this assignment, I have been reading Shakespeare's sonnets for inspiration before tackling my own work.  Here are a few sonnets that stood out to me.

Sonnet 62:  This sonnet surprised me because it deals with self-love/vanity rather than love or admiration for another person.  When I think of sonnets, I imagine a love poem for another person (if love indeed be the topic) not a heavy declaration of self-admiration.

Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye
And all my soul and all my every part;
And for this sin there is no remedy,
It is so grounded inward in my heart.
Methinks no face so gracious is as mine, 
No shape so true, no truth of such account;
And for myself mine own worth do define,
As I all other in all worths surmount.
But when my glass shows me myself indeed,
Beated and chopp'd with tann'd antiquity,
Mine own self-loving were iniquity
'Tis thee, myself,--that for myself I praise,
Paintin my age with beauty of thy days.

Sonnet 137:  We have all heard the phrase "Love is blind."  This sonnet discusses that very nature of love.  I found this sonnet interesting simply because it relates to some personal experiences I have had with love.  Since my own sonnets will be personal, I enjoyed this example as something I can emulate.

Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes,
That they behold, and see not what they see?
They know what beauty is, see where it lies, 
Yet what the best is take the worst to be.
If eyes, corrupt by over-partial looks,
Be anchor'd in the bay where all men ride,
Why of eyes' falsehood hast thou forged hooks,
Whereto the judgment of my heart is tied?
Why should my heart think that a several plot
Which my heart knows the wide world's common place?
Or mind eyes, seeing this, say this is not,
To put fair truth upon so foul a face?
In things right true my heart and eyes have err'd,
And to this false plague are they now transferr'd