  We present deep optical spectra of the archetypal young planetary nebula (PN)
NGC 7027, covering a wavelength range from 3310 to 9160 A. The observations
were carried out by uniformly scanning a long slit across the entire nebular
surface, thus yielding average optical spectra for the whole nebula. A total of
937 emission features are detected. The extensive line list presented here
should prove valuable for future spectroscopic analyses of emission line
nebulae. The optical data, together with the archival IUE and ISO spectra, are
used to probe the temperature and density structures and to determine the
elemental abundances from lines produced by different excitation mechanisms.
The C++/H+, N++/H+, O++/H+ and Ne++/H+ ionic abundance ratios derived from
optical recombination lines (ORLs) are found to be only slightly higher than
those derived from collisionally excited lines (CELs). We conclude that
whatever mechanism is causing the BJ/CEL temperature discrepanies and the
ORL/CEL abundance discrepancies that have been observed in many PNe, it has an
insignificant effect on this bright young compact PN. The properties of the
central star are also discussed. Based on the integrated spectrum and using the
energy-balance method, we have derived an effective temperature of 219 000 K
for the ionizing star. Finally, we report the first detection in the spectrum
of this bright young PN of Raman-scattered O VI features at 6830 and 7088 A,
pointing to the existence of abundant neutral hydrogen around the ionized
regions. (abridged)
