differences between Rhetoric and Figure of Speech

The word rhetoric was once primarily the name of an important branch of philosophy and an art deserving of serious study.In recent years the word has come to be used chiefly in a pejorative sense to refer to inflated language and pomposity.Deprecation of the term may result from a modern linguistic puritanism,which holds that language used in legitimate persuasion should be plain and free of artifice—itself a tendentious rhetorical doctrine,though not often recognized as such.But many writers still prefer to bear in mind the traditional meanings of the word.Thus,according to the newer use of the term,the phrase empty rhetoric,as in The politicians talk about solutions,but they usually offer only empty rhetoric,might be construed as redundant.But in fact only 35 percent of the Usage Panel judged this example to be redundant.Presumably,it can be maintained that rhetoric can be other than empty.
Figure:
A written or printed symbol representing something other than a letter,especially a number.

越详细越好