I'm pretty sure the circles are figurative.
I wouldn't mention the practice of ending a sentence with a preposition, since it seems to be a fairly common grammatical construction in English. If this exchange were taking place in French, I might comment, since ending sentences with prepositions would sound utterly bizarre in French. The Oxford dictionary people have this to say: Theres no necessity to ban prepositions from the end of sentences. Ending a sentence with a preposition is a perfectly natural part of the structure of modern English.
“I’m pretty sure the circles are figurative.”
That doesn’t make sense.
A circle of rocks THAT bakes in the sun would be correct.
A circle of sunbathers WHO bake in the sun would be correct.
The figurative aspect has nothing to do with it.
As for ending a sentence in a preposition, if you should see the editors of that piece, tell them they are a circle of ninnies WHO know nothing. Seeming to be fairly common matters little. A circle of fools WHO pronounce it so does not make it so.