Arrays Outside Of Methods

I'm working on a side project, which will eventually hopefully be a Pokedex, and I've just been going to it at the end of every chapter and using the stuff I've learned to work on it.So I just read chapter 3, which is all about variables and teaches how to use arrays.

my question is, does an array have to be declared inside a method? Because I'm trying to create an array inside a class without any methods and without the main, and I continuously get errors. Here's a quick working of my code that won't compile.

class blah {
blah a[] = new blah[7];
a[0] = new blah();
}

The error message focuses on a[0] = new blah(); Telling me the 0 should be a ], the = is an illegal start of type, so on and so forth. The program compiles completely fine if it's within a method, like this:

class blah {
void a() {
blah a[] = new blah[7];
a[0] = new blah();

}

}

Or if I have public static void main (String[]args); But I'm trying to practice working outside of main.So does an array have to be within a method,