Rhetorical figures - any of the forms of expression which give beauty, variety, force, etc., to a composition in accordance with the theory and principles of rhetoric, as metaphor, metonym, hyperbole, etc.
A literary trope is the use of figurative language, via word, phrase or an image, for artistic effect such as using a figure of speech.The word trope has also come to be used for describing commonly recurring literary and rhetorical devices, motifs or clichés in creative works.
Literary trope-
An abstract saying is the utilization of allegorical language, through word, state or a picture, for creative impact like utilizing an interesting expression. The word figure of speech has likewise come to be utilized for depicting normally repeating scholarly and explanatory gadgets, themes or adages in inventive works.
Rhetorical figure-
A metaphor or logical figure is a word or expression that involves a purposeful deviation from common language use to create an expository impact.
Striving to enhance the beauty of speech classical rhetorics aim for an artistic decoration (ornatus) of the text. Ornatus itself uses the means of synonyms, tropes (tropi), rhetorical figures (figurae) and composition. The latter deals with some higher-level aspects of textual coherence and thematic-rhematic structures, so this is not of concern here.
In a broader and rather common sense tropes may be regarded as a subgruoup of rhetorical figures (Lausberg, § 239) which is probably assumed by your definition of rhetorical figures given above.
In a narrower sense there's a distinction between decoration by replacing single words (ornatus in verbis singulis positus) and by replacing or rearranging phrases (ornatus in verbis coniunctis positus). The tropi belong to the first kind and therefore are exclusively: periphrasis, synecdoche, antonomasia, emphasis, litotes, hyperbole, metonymy, metalepsis, metaphor, and irony (Lausberg, §§ 174ff., & § 235). Likewise do synonyms.
All other elements of the ornatus belong to the second group and are figurae, e.g. polyptopon, figura etymologica, zeugma, hysteron proteron, anaphora, epiphora and many more (Lausberg, §§ 238ff.).
So it's safe to say that tropi are meant to denote poetic lexeme substitutions whereas figurae refer to the play with structural recurrences (e.g. polyptopon, asyndeton) and semantical-syntactical disorder (e.g. zeugma, ellipsis). However, they fulfill the same functions for the recital of the text.
Lit.: Lausberg, H. (2000). Elemente der literarischen Rhetorik. Hueber.
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